Bound by Misery
by jinyuy
Summary: NaruSaku, Sasuke is killed by Itachi. Naruto leaves and returns. As his love for Sakura blossoms, he realizes Kyuubi is killing him. He decides to die with purpose, going after Itachi and Orochimaru before it's too late. can he be saved?
1. Together By What Means?

I do not own Naruto and it's characters and concepts.

This is a story that pairs up Sakura with Naruto. In fact, that's the only major pairing, seeing as I believe it to be the best, and it makes sense. Naruto is the only boy in the series who deserves Sakura, because no one else has been as nice to her or cared as much about her as Naruto. (BTW, I _hate_ Sasuke with a passion. Used to like him, and I know he has his reasons for betraying everyone, but he's still way too much of a prick)

Naruto was numb. He didn't know what to do. Scream? Cry? Curse? Maybe he should just close his eyes and hope this wasn't happening. Yeah. That'd be real nice. He wouldn't have to look at the grave of his former team mate that way. He wouldn't have to look at the box that held the body of Uchiha Sasuke.

It was horrible. He hated Sasuke all of his years as a student and gennin. He was his rival. He was supposed to be there for all of time to drive him to do better. Sasuke was his competition in so many ways. He made Naruto want to be a better ninja, a better man, better at everything, because that's what Sasuke was. He was better at everything.

Even saving a life.

Sasuke, driven by his blind hatred and desire for revenge, stepped into the battle that Naruto and Itachi were engaged in. Itachi, for some unknown reason still, was after Naruto's life, or his capture, or something. It was all so confusing… so fast.

Itachi pummeled his little brother as soon as he stepped in. He finished what he had started when he eliminated all but him from the Uchiha clan. Now, Itachi was the lone survivor. He was the last of he Sharingan bloodline.

Naruto couldn't hold back any more of the tears. He'd been trying so hard for the past few days, suppressing them, preventing them from coming out. Now, however, it was too overwhelming. They streamed from his eyes, silently falling downing his cheeks and splattering on the ground below him. He didn't sob or cry out. He just silently cried.

The entire village had turned out for the Sasuke funeral and memorial in the ninja cemetery. Every ninja off duty was there. The Hokage, Tsunade, even had the spare time to come and pay her respects. All of his classmates were there. Team 7, what was left of it, stood together at the front of the crowd as the casket was lowered into the ground. He, Naruto, was between his friend Sakura and his sensei Kakashi. Saskura wasn't taking it too well.

She cried hopelessly as she stood, trembling as the one she had loved was buried. It was obviously a one-sided love. Naruto cursed to himself again, thinking of how, even in death, Sasuke denied the one who loved him of any affection. She didn't deserve that, Naruto thought. No one deserves to be ignored by another person… especially not her.

Naruto couldn't comfort her in any way though. He knew it would be futile. God knows he wanted to. He wanted nothing more than to step up to her and embrace her and tell her it was alright… but it would be a wasted effort. Nothing would comfort her, not even her team mate. He knew she hated him after all. She recognized that he existed, of course, forced to be in proximity with him because of the team arrangements. He knew he would never be to her what Sasuke was.

_Damn you Sasuke. She still loves you, even though you're gone. Can you see her! Can you see her mourning your death! She loved you dammit! Why couldn't you have just once recognized that and returned it! Just once would've meant he world to her!_

Naruto stood there long after everyone left. The people started to file out of the cemetery, little by little. The first to go were the higher-class nins with responsibilities. Eventually, as was expected, Team 7 was all that remained over the closed memorial of their fallen comrade.

Soon though, Kakashi had to leave as well. He had a meeting he had to get to with the Hokage, an important matter that the lady need to discuss with the jounin. It was apparent that it concerned Sasuke. Naruto stood silently next to Sakura, a few feet away from her. He didn't want to get too close to her and offend her. Of course, he didn't find it easy to move at all. He actually tried leaving a few times, but something forced him to stand just a little longer each time he began to contemplate exiting.

Finally, Sakura broke down and collapsed. She had been crying almost the whole time, silently, but she let it all go now. She cried out hysterically at the stone before her. She had been holding it back this long because of the spectators, but now that they had gone, she let it all out.

"Sasuke! Please come back!" she yelled from the ground. "Don't leave! You stupid, arrogant jerk! How could you leave me here! What am I supposed to do without you, huh! You're the only thing that kept me training!" Sakura sobbed some more.

Naruto still stood, watching the one he had always been watching. Sakura weakly pounded the ground. "It's not fair… Not fair… I loved you, but you left me… Why couldn't you stay? Why?"

Naruto finally walked up to her side and didn't move any further. He wanted again so badly to help her through her pain, to comfort her, to let her cry herself to sleep on his shoulder. But he couldn't move. He couldn't duck down next to her and pat her back even, or offer to help her stand. But he couldn't work up the courage at the moment. When Sakura most needed someone, he couldn't be the one. Naruto cursed himself weakly for his weakness.

Sakura finally stood up, struggling seemingly in pain, swaggering back and forth before steadying herself. She wiped her eyes with a sniff, still looking down at the grave. Naruto finally willed himself to speak.

"Sakura… I'll… I'll walk you home… if you want," he said, stuttering.

Sakura only nodded, and she started to lean towards him. He held her up gently as they walked to her house. They didn't say a word. They didn't expect any different. They were afraid to say anything to each other. They finally arrived as it began to pour rain, and Naruto ushered the pathetic girl into her own home.

Without a word, Naruto left, and Sakura closed her door. He wouldn't be going home. No, Naruto was going to a place where he liked to go to be alone and think. Moments later, the blonde teenager was sitting on top of the fourth Hokage's head on the mountain side, his legs crossed.

He looked at the town of Konoha below him. It was completely inactive. No one moved. There wasn't a soul on the streets. It could be a result of the rain, but he knew it was because of the dead kid in his grave. _See, Sasuke? Everyone loved you. You've affected everyone because of your death... Why can't I be like that? Would anyone care if I died like they do for you?_ Naruto mentally kicked himself. _Don't joke around, Naruto. No one would even give a rat's ass. Hell, the town would be exactly different than what it is now. It would be so joyous, wouldn't it? Heh, yeah, there'd be a huge celebration alright."_

He was completely soaked through with the rain, the usually spikey blonde hair hanging in his eyes. His jacket and pants were just as wet. He couldn't believe Sasuke was dead. It was hitting him just how dangerous it was to be a ninja. The strongest student in Konoha was effortlessly destroyed by a ninja on a different level of power. There wasn't a way to rate that kind of power. Naruto hardly even saw it happen.

"_We've come to take you, Uzumaki Naruto," said Itachi, his cold eyes glaring at him with the most malicious intent. "Come without a fight, and you will come out of this unharmed… for the most part."_

_He placed a wicked grin across his lips when he added the last note. Naruto knew he was dead. He could feel the levels of chakra emanating from the Akatsuki leader. He didn't stand a chance. He was in the forest of Konoha, training with his team mates and Kakashi all day, when he had arrived. The fact that he'd not been detected until he stood before them was a testament to his power._

_Naruto's eyes looked at the evil Sharingans possessed by Itachi. It was all over. It didn't take a genius to know that the four of them didn't stand a chance. "Itachi!" shouted Sasuke. "I'm going to kill you!"_

"_Go ahead and try," said the older brother. He seemed none to affected by his brother's threat. He didn't have any emotion in his voice. "You haven't been able to possess the Mengokyo Sharingan yet?(I hope I spelled that right) Pitiful. I was your age by the time I had mine. You are weak."_

_This drove Sasuke over the line, being called weak. He jumped forward as his own Sharingans activated. This, though, wasn't enough to stand up against Itachi's overwhelming advantage. Itachi seemed to have not even moved, but as soon as Sasuke had met his nemesis, he was blasted backwards by a strong impact. He never even hit the ground, as Itachi placed punch after kick after life-threatening blow on his sibling. Sasuke hadn't even the time or ability to let out a scream. It was all done in seconds. You can only be hit so hard so many times. To ensure his victory, Itachi removed a kunai from his robes and plunged it into his chest, stabbing Sasuke._

_No one had even moved. They were completely dumbfounded, awestruck, intimidated. Whatever you want to call it, it held them in their place. Sakura placed a hand over her mouth as tears began to fall. Naruto gritted his teeth. Kakashi stood with his only visible eye widened with shock._

"_You… you monster," said Naruto. He plucked a shuriken from a holster and stood ready to fight._

"_No, Naruto!" shouted Kakashi. "You'll be killed too!"_

"_So be it!" he shot back. He ran at Itachi, who only effortlessly brought him to the ground with a backhanded slap. Naruto started to stand, but Itachi drove hit foot into his back._

"_You saw what I did to your friend?" he asked, again, emotionless. "I can do that to you just as easily. It wouldn't be any trouble. But I need you alive, little Uzumaki. I need the beast inside you." He let his foot off of the boy._

"_I'm going to let what you've seen stew in your head for a while," he said, turning his back and walking away. "We don't need you yet, but we will. Oh yes, you will be in our hands soon enough. I'm just going to leave you here to let this all sink in. I will cause you unimaginable pain if you don't come willingly when next I return. I won't will you… Oh no… that's be too simple."_

"He's a monster," whispered Naruto. "He's so powerful. He could do so much good with that power… but it's hopeless. I couldn't even hold a candle to him if I had to fight… Even with Kyuubi's help, I'd be totaled. And I couldn't hope for a nice death."

He buried his face in his crossed arms and started to cry again. He was so lost, so confused. He didn't deserve this. Sasuke didn't deserve it either. Sure, Sasuke was a prick all the time, and it pissed Naruto off to no end, but he didn't ever want anything bad to happen to him.

"YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DIED!" he screamed into the air above the city. "HE WOULD'VE LEFT WITHOUT KILLING ANYONE IF YOU'D HAVE JUST LEFT HIM BE! DAMN YOU SASUKE! WHY DID YOU GO AND DO THAT!"

The city below echoed his cries of anger without any life in them.

Naruto had returned to his apartment late that night, when it was already dark. He was the only one out while he walked home. He was so lonely, but it was a thing he was used to by now, because neglect was something he'd been on the receiving end for as long as he could remember. It was only a couple years before that he'd learned this was because of a demonic nine-tailed fox locked in him.

At his apartment, which was an absolute mess, he found it impossible to sleep. He hadn't succumbed to a decent sleep for the passed three days, ever since Sasuke had died. The nightmares were of course the greatest reason for this. So instead of even attempting sleep, he sat in front of his window, which hung open. He watched the rain fall in the black of night, and lightning struck every now and then to provide a little light. He just sat in the darkness in front of that window, long into the night, not daring to attempt sleep.

He looked over at the clock next to his bed in the corner. It was a few minutes passed midnight by now. Just as he was thinking about how late it was, there was a quiet knock on the door. His hair stood on end, and his heart skipped a beat before taking a quick pulse. He jumped from his seat and faced the door. There was another door.

_Itachi!_

He fumbled around for a kunai in his satchel on the floor and crept towards the door as silently as possible. The best he could hope for was a quick death. He knew it wasn't possible, thanks to all the power against him, but he'd fight, even knowing the pain that surely awaited him. Whatever it was that he was wanted for, he didn't want to be a part of it. He'd rather die than play a role in the plans of Akatsuki and the madman Itachi.

He gripped his kunai tightly as h brought it up to an attacking stance, grabbing the door handle. There was another knock. He took in a deep breath. This was the moment. To say he was scared out of his mind was a massive understatement. He opened the door in a quick jerk and thrust out with the sharp tool in his free hand. It stopped, however, just in front of its target.

Sakura was standing in his doorway, completely soaked, her head drooping slightly. "Sakura!" whispered Naruto in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"Naruto," said Sakura slowly and quietly. Her voice was tired and choked, obviously caused by a great deal of crying. "I… sorry, I hope I didn't wake you."

"No," replied Naruto.

"I'll go… if you want," she said quickly and remorsefully.

"No," said Naruto again. "Come in."

"Thank you," she replied as she walked in. He shut the door, and they stood in the darkness for a moment, absolutely silent save for he rain outside and a very distant thunder clap.

"Naruto," said Sakura. "Can I…

"What is it, Sakura?" asked Naruto. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"No," said Sakura as a tear fell from her eye. Naruto wouldn't have seen it if he didn't have superb night vision, a trait earned from his training and his possession by the Kyuubi. "I'm not okay, Naruto," she cried weakly. She fell forward into his arms and began crying into his chest.

"Sakura." She kept crying into the shocked boy, and he placed his arms around her. He was confused, but did the only thing he thought sensible. He held her for a few moments and rubbed her back gently as tears began to stream from his own eyes.

"I'm so scared, Naruto," she said quietly as the sobbing started to subside. "I'm so scared."

"I know, Sakura," he said gently. "It's okay. Itachi won't hurt you. He's not going to touch you."

"I don't care about that," she whispered. "I'm afraid of what he will do to you." Naruto's heart stopped for half a second before resuming its beat. "I don't want you to leave me too."

"Sakura, I'll be fine," lied Naruto.

"No," said Sakura. "You'll die. He'll kill you, and I don't want him to. I don't want you to die. I couldn't stand it if I lost you."

Err, Sakura, what are you talking about?" asked Naruto.

"I'm sorry," she said, starting to cry again. She still didn't look up from his chest. "I've been so terrible to you. I've been just like everyone else, ignoring you and even saying horrible things. I'm so sorry. I know it was wrong."

"Sakura, none of that matters," said Naruto, patting her back. "I don't care."

"How can you not care?" she asked weakly. "I've constantly shunned you, even though you've done everything for me. You've tried for so many years to get my attention, and I just pushed you aside… I was so selfish, loving a man who refused to love me back…" She hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry, Naruto. I miss him… but not as much as I'll miss you if you are gone too."

Naruto was dying inside again. He would've given anything to be hearing these things from Sakura and to be this close to her any other time. He would never have dreamed she would be holding him like this, but here she was. It was too much for him. He'd always wanted this, but he didn't want it to come as a result of his teammate's death. It was Sasuke's death that got him this. It was too bitter-sweet.

"You were to only one who cared about me, Uzumaki," she whispered so silently. "You were the only man who openly did all that you could to impress me or to show your affection. You were always the one protecting me, or trying to make me smile. I couldn't get that from anyone but you. Why?"

"I… don't know," said Naruto.

Sakura squeezed him even tighter. "I won't ever let that happen again, Naruto. I promise, you'll never go ignored by me again. I promise to be to you what you've always been to me. That's my promise, and I'll keep it if it kills me. I will never break that promise."

"Sakura," said Naruto tentatively. "You shouldn't have come so late. What about your house? Won't anyone be worried?"

"I don't care about that," said Sakura. "All I could think of since you brought me home was how bad I wanted to be with you. I couldn't explain it, but it just hit me that I wanted to be close to you no matter what it took."

Naruto couldn't reply, except to hold her a little more tightly than before. "Please, let me stay," begged Sakura.

"My place is a mess," said Naruto bashfully. "It's kinda embarrassing"

"I don't mind," said Sakura. "Just let me stay here with you tonight. It's okay if you don't want me to. I understand. I wouldn't blame you for turning me away after everything that I put you through."

"Sakura, I could never turn you away, especially in your greatest time of need." Naruto let go of her and looked down into her emerald green eyes. "You can stay. I'd be honored to have you here."

"Thank you," said Sakura.

Naruto made his bed. (He hadn't made it that morning when he woke up, a habit of his) He beckoned for Sakura to lie down, and when she did, he wrapped the blankets over her body and walked away. As soon as she realized he wasn't going to be lying with her, she sat up.

He was seated leaning against the wall in the corner with his head down. She smiled, something she'd not done in days, at his attempt to be honorable. She stood up from the bed and walked over to him with the covers draped around her. She sat next to him, and he looked up.

"Sakura, what are you doing?" he asked with a shock. His face turned a little pink as she wrapped her arms around him and thus covered them both with the blankets.

"I told you," she said. "I want to be with you, no matter what." Naruto smiled and turned to hold her so that she sat in front of him between his legs. He wrapped his arms around her middle as she leaned back into his chest and let her head lean on his shoulder. Naruto took the covers and used them to cover the both of them. She snuggled tightly against him.

That night, both of them finally slept all night without any disturbances or nightmares.

End Chapter One

I'm saying this is the end of chapter one because I'm not sure if I will continue it. I am a huge fan of NaruSaku fics, and I find that there are few of them out there, and that's unacceptable. I want to continue this, so if I feel motivated enough, I'll plan some more goodness for anyone interested.

If anyone had any tips or suggested, by all means, bring it on. I'm more than happy to take your reviews into consideration. I like it even more when people email me with their ideas. If you guys want any more, just tell me, and I promise to add on.


	2. Bacon and Eggs Equals Happiness?

Greetings to all who enjoyed the first installment. You must have, if you're reading this second chapter. I'm surprised to have gotten some enthusiasm so quickly from reviewers, and I am so grateful. Thank you.

As I've mentioned, I love NaruSaku fics very much. Nothing else really works. Hinata's kinds cute for him, sure, but I like the Sakura pairing more. People think that Sasuke is more deserving of her. BAH! He's too arrogant and foolhardy. Rock Lee is just too corny for Sakura. I like him better as a close friend for her. I also like the pairing of TemariShikamaru. That's a good one too.

Well, I'll get on with it. (Oh, and I'm not sure what Sakura's parental situation is. I don't know if she has any, but I'm pretty sure she does. For this story, she will have parents, I think.)

* * *

Sakura woke up first that morning, with the blankets still half-wrapped around her and Naruto. He was still sitting. Absolutely motionless, behind her, leaned against the wall with Sakura's head on his right shoulder. His head was slightly drooped forward, causing some of his shaggy hair to stray across her cheeks. She suppressed a giggle, and settled for a smile, a genuine smile that she found she was having too few of recently.

She moved slightly, attempting to get up without disturbing the blonde. Though she made no noise, Naruto still stirred and began to wake up. Sakura stood in front of him and crouched down so her face was right in front of his.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes and blinked hard a few times. Unless he was mistaken, a very familiar pair of green eyes, belonging to a pink-haired female, was hovering right in front of his own.

"Good morning," she said with a smile. "Sleep well?"

"Hi Sakura," replied Naruto with a yawn. He rubbed his eyes in the sunlight. He remembered Sakura coming to his apartment in the late hours of the night. He remembered it all, how she had confessed and apologized, how she had thrown herself into his arms. He was so happy, but the depression of Sasuke's death hadn't worn off yet.

"Are you hungry?" asked Sakura, straightening up and placing her hands on her hips. "I can fix something if you like?"

"I don't have a very big selection," he said shyly. "I don't usually cook, so there's really nothing _to_ cook. I have cereal for breakfast usually. I don't eat much." Sakura frowned at her friend's lack of nutritional care, but cheered herself instantly.

"Well, I'll go buy some bacon and eggs," she said. "I'll only be a few minutes. You live so close to the grocery district anyways." She ran a brush through her pink hair as she walked out the door. "Be back soon," she said, smiling over her shoulder as she closed his door. He listened to her walk down the hallway and disappear.

He sighed heavily. "I can't believe she spent the night at my house…" He looked up at his ceiling. "See, Sasuke? You could've had her. She would've jumped at the chance to stay with you at your mansion if you weren't such a fool all the time… but now she's with me at my house."

He stood up and stretched, letting out another yawn as his stomach groaned. He realized he'd really not eaten in two days, the day after Sasuke's death. He didn't feel like eating at all during that time, but now, his hunger seemed eager to be heard. He rubbed his stomach. "Hold your horses," he said to himself. "Sakura will be coming with food soon. I bet she's a good cook too."

He looked out the window over the town below. A seventh floor apartment provided a pretty decent view of the people and buildings around. He could see almost everything. There was his favorite ramen bar, Ichiruka (spelling right? Ah, who cares?). There was the old academy, where he used to study under Iruka sensei. There was the Hokage headquarters. He could also see the mountain with the Hokage's faces engraved on one side. Of course, they were still working on Tsunade's picture.

Then there was the forest that surrounded Konoha. He could see the part of the forest where he had been training days ago. That was the last time he had been training in a few days. That was where Sasuke had died. He became sad again. "Itachi," he said quietly. He could see the exact spot where it all happened, and he became reminded of how strong the Akatsuki agent was.

"If he came here again… if he tried to come for me, I'd be so dead." Naruto leaned over the edge of the window. "I don't know what they're planning… but it isn't good. Itachi could probably destroy everyone in this village. He's more than likely stronger than most Anbu with that damned Sharingan of his. They'd all be slaughtered while he looked for me…

"I'm once again a danger to this town, aren't I?" he mumbled. "First because of the demon fox, now because of someone who's hunting me…"

"Did you say something Naruto?" asked Sakura as she walked in the door. She had a brown grocery bag with food in it. Naruto whirled around while she shut the door. "I got some food. So, were you saying something?"

"Just thinking out loud, Sakura-chan," he said. "Don't worry about it."

"'Kay," she replied, walking over to his stove and sink. "I'll start cooking. It won't be long." The kitchen area was a mess, and Naruto was very embarrassed to have his guest walking around and trying to dodge his disaster area, so he tried hastily to clean as much as he could. He got everything out of the way so Sakura cold cook, most of it being garbage. He then tidied all his clothes and his ninja equipment lying on the floor. Withing a few brief minutes, the apartment looked cleaner than it ever had, and it smelled of wonderfully cooked bacon and eggs.

"It smells wonderful, Sakura-chan," he said as he watched her cook. It was all he could do to not drool while observing her over her shoulder.

"Thanks, Naruto," she said with a smile. She piled some food onto a plate and handed it to Naruto. He held it for a few seconds. "Well? Aren't you going to eat? It's okay, isn't it?"

"I've… never had anyone cook for me," he said slowly. "Thanks Sakura."

"Is that all?" she said. "Don't worry about it Naruto. I'll cook for you as much as you want, if that would make you happier."

"I'll wait for you to finish cooking for yourself," said Naruto as he took a seat at his recently cleaned table. Sakura was soon eating at his side in silence. They were both quiet. It was weird, Naruto thought, to be sharing a meal with the on he'd most wanted to share a meal with for as long as he could remember. Now, he didn't know what to do.

"Naruto," said Sakura finally, breaking that silence.

"Yeah, Sakura?"

"Why do you keep trying?" asked Sakura. "I mean… how come you never gave up on me? When I constantly treated you like dirt, you never seemed derailed in the least. It just seemed to make you try harder to get my attention… Why did you try so hard for me?"

Naruto stopped eating and tried thinking hard. Thinking hard was not Naruto's strong-suit, but he managed to spit out a few words. "That's a really hard question to answer, Sakura," he mumbled, putting his fork down. "I… I've always wanted to be accepted, by anyone really. No one ever paid attention to me, you know? I was just a dangerous kid that nobody wanted to be around or even look at longer than necessary. All the nins, the families, the children, everyone, just sort of treated me with a neglect…

"I learned to deal, I guess," he continued. "But it was so hard… it still is to tell the truth. But the only time I truly focused my attention of being recognized was around you… I guess I figured that, if I could get anyone to realize I even existed, if I could get someone, anyone, to look at me and smile, I wanted it to be you. If I could get you to smile at me, then all the other people wouldn't matter. Any time you would just say my name, I would get so excited and completely forget that no one likes me in this town."

Sakura, of course, was regretting asking the question. She was touched, but it hurt to know that no one appreciated him for so long, and it hurt even more to know that she was one of them. "Sorry, Naruto-kun. I didn't mean to bring it up."

"Forget about it Sakura," said Naruto with a hearty smile. "It's like I said. Focusing on you and getting your attention was all that mattered… It still is."

"You're an amazing person, Naruto," said Sakura. "No one is as amazing as you are." Naruto flushed very deeply. He was turning red.

"Thanks, Sakura." Sakura stood up and picked up the dishes from the table. Leaning over Naruto's shoulder, she placed a kiss on his cheek and walked away smiling, humming some sort of light tune happily.

Naruto turned even redder. He didn't even dare reach up to touch the spot where he's been kissed. He felt hot, pleasantly, on his cheek there, and he didn't want the feeling to leave him.

Ever

Naruto shook his head to bring himself out of his drunkenness. He turned around and saw Sakura standing, washing the dishes in his sink with a grin on her lips. She hummed some more of the same tune, a song Naruto hadn't heard before. She was happy, he thought.

After so much mourning and crying… Sakura was finally happy.

* * *

I love this chapter. It's kinda short, but I promised more to be posted about the story. I hope you all liked it. It will probably still continue from this point. It could get a bit more romantic or angsty, or even both. Tell me what you guys think. I'm all ears, really. And if you have any information that I may be wrong, factually speaking, about something, please tell me. 


	3. Lost Without You

Yo! I got some more NaruSaku goodness for you loyal Naruto fans out there. I sincerely hope this has been enjoyed by all you crazed fans of the pairing I've chosen for this story.

I'll say no more.

* * *

Naruto and Sakura ventured out into the town that day. Konoha had returned to mostly normal activity now with people in the market and nins going about, keeping the security. Naruto and Sakura briefly wondered how their sensei, good old Kakashi was doing at the moment.

Speak of the Devil

Kakashi appeared out of a burst of smoke in front of them. Sakura let out a stifled cry in shock as she jumped and grabbed Narutos' arm tightly. Kakashi only briefly gave a questioning look with his uncovered eye before getting to business.

"Naruto, Sakura, how are you?" he asked seriously. His face looked for the most part like it always did: Lazy. However, anyone who would've spent time with him in the past would be able to recognize the slight sadness on his face.

"Err, fine," said Naruto.

"A lot better," answered Sakura, still holding Naruto's arm.

"I'm glad," said Kakashi. "Anyway, I'm here just to give you both a message from the Hokage. Good thing you were together. You're to proceed to her office immediately. Sakura, right after that, your parents would like to at least know that you're okay. They were a bit worried this morning that their daughter was gone."

Sakura blushed and looked down. "Yes, sir," she said in unison with Naruto.

"Well I'm off then." Kakashi disappeared into a whirling cloud of smoke, and the couple ran to Tsunade's office.

"Come in," said the female when there was a knock at her door. Naruto and Sakura proceeded to enter and stood at attention in front of her desk. "Relax guys," she said politely. "No need to be formal. I just wanted to talk-discuss some things, if you will grant it."

"No problem," said Naruto, relaxing a bit. Sakura didn't reply, but allowed her posture to relax as well.

"First, I want to express my apologies for the death of your friend," said Tsunade, standing up. "I know what its like to loose close team members, but not at such a young age. I can't blow smoke up your asses and say it'll be alright or that I understand, because I frankly can't begin to pretend I know what you're going through."

"Thank you Tsunade-sama," said Sakura and Naruto.

"If you would like to talk about it, I invite you to do it now," she said, sitting on the edge of her desk facing them, crossing her legs. "Is there anything you wish to know or would like to say? Would you like anything?"

"What is to become of Team Seven?" asked Naruto seriously.

"There are a few choices," said Tsunade. "I want you to consider them seriously before you decide. You'll have a week to think them over. Your first choice is that you can remain Genin nins and continue training with Kakashi until a third Genin is ready to stand in and complete your team. If this option is taken, you won't be given any grave missions to deal with as a unit until your team is four-strong again.

"Option two is the disbanding of Team Seven altogether," said Tsunade. Naruto gave an audible gulp. "You both will become independent Genins until the academy releases their next graduates and the draft chooses teams. You will both be inserted randomly into new teams under new leadership as Genins, though I daresay you'll have an edge over your teammates.

"Your third and final choice is to give up your career as ninja and take up a civilian life," said Tsunade grimly. "You may choose to quit, and no one will think any less of you if you do. No one will blame you or hold you responsible. You had to witness what most shouldn't have to at your age. It would've shaken even myself to the core to watch what you saw. Should you leave, you will be given your standard six months paid severance so you have something to live off of until you find your next job."

"Those are our choices?" asked Naruto.

"Yes," she answered. "Take your time. You have the week off to make your decision. Like I said, weigh the choices carefully. I expect you both in here at noon a week from today to discuss your future. You are dismissed. Oh, and Sakura, go visit your parents to tell them where you've been. They've been worried."

"Yes ma'am," said Sakura, bowing and leaving. Naruto waited in her office until Tsunade looked up and noticed he was still there.

"Uh, Naruto, what's the matter?" asked Tsunade.

"It's about Itachi and the Akatsuki, Tsunade-sama," said Naruto.

Sakura, beginning to walk down the hall to exit, realized that Naruto wasn't with her, and, assuming he stayed behind, went back to the office. She was about to open the door, which was slightly creaked open.

"They want the demon in me," said Naruto.

"Yes," said Tsunade simply. Sakura's hand stopped on the door handle.

"Why do they want Kyuubi?" asked Naruto.

_Kyuubi._ Thought Sakura. _Where have I heard that before. Kyuubi's the name of the nine-tailed demon fox from years ago. It destroyed Konoha practically._

"I don't know what their interests are in you and Kyuubi," said Tsunade. "They may want that thing inside you for power. That would be a safe assumption."

_Inside him? The demon fox? That's impossible!_

"Can you tell me anything?" pleaded Naruto. "Do honestly not know anything, or are you just covering up a truth in a sad attempt to protect people?"

"Young man, I don't appreciate having my trust questioned," said Tsunade sternly. "I am being completely honest. I have many nins trying to figure out what Akatsuki's plans are, but it is very difficult to find out anything at the moment."

"My friend is dead because someone wanted a monster that's sealed inside me!" said Naruto heatedly. "I want to know why!"

"I don't know why, Uzumaki!" shouted Tsunade back at him.

_Kyuubi? Sealed inside Naruto? That's why Akatsuki's doing this?_

"Then get it out of me!" said Naruto. "I don't want this stupid thing in me anymore. All it's done since I was born is cause trouble for me an anyone around me! Come on! You're the Hokage. Surely you have some kind of power to help me."

"I'm afraid I don't, Naruto," said Tsunade sadly. "I'm sorry, but Kyuubi is in you to stay, probably for the rest of your life. Kyuubi cannot be destroyed, just locked up."

Naruto stormed out of the office without a word. He flung open the door and began to barge out, but he was frozen in his tracks. Sakura was standing absolutely still, a look of shock and surprise on her face. Naruto's face mirrored Sakura's. _She had been listening… She knows… Sakura knows there's a demon in me… _

Naruto felt tears beginning to sting his eyes. He couldn't bear to let anyone see them. He hid his face and ran by Sakura, leaving her to watch, unable to speak as he fled the budling.

"Naruto!" yelled Sakura to his back. It was too late. He was gone. _Dammit. What have I done? I finally got close to him, and I went and destroyed everything. I'm so hopeless._

Naruto tore through the streets of Konoha, sobbing and trying to hide his face with his arm. People watched as he blindly ran passed them and even into some others. He didn't care. All he wanted was to get away.

_Things were finally going well,_ he thought, sitting on top of the Third Hokage's head. _I finally got Sakura to like me and accept me, and then she finds out about the horrible thing inside me. Why am I always the one who's picked on? "Why can't my life just be easy for once!"_ he screamed.

He started to cry as he sat there alone. _All ruined. Now everyone hates me again. Sakura knows I'm just a demon container, a monster who's dangerous. Perfect. It's back to normalcy from now on._

There was a set of footsteps approaching from behind, tentatively, carefully. "N-Naruto?" asked Sakura fearfully from behind. Naruto looked up at the horizon in front of him as the sun was setting.

"Yeah, Sakura?" replied Naruto, sniffling and wiping his eyes. "What do you want?"

"I…" Sakura fidgeted. "I'm sorry, Naruto. I didn't mean to eavesdrop."

"So now you know," said Naruto, still looking ahead and not at her. "Now you know what I am. You know the monster that I am."

"What?" asked Sakura. "Naruto, what are you talking about?"

"Come on, Sakura," said Naruto painfully through his tears. "You heard it all. Didn't you! That stupid demon is inside me! The Kyuubi is in me, just waiting to be freed someday. I'm a monster, Sakura."

"No you're not," said Sakura, sitting next to him. She draped her arm around his shoulder and pulled his head to rest on her shoulder. "You're a kind, wonderful human being that is the most opposite thing to a monster possible."

"Do you hate me again, Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto fearfully.

"Oh course not!" said Sakura forcefully. "Come on, Naruto. I'm not going to hate you because something is inside you. It's not your fault, Naruto."

"You mean it?" asked Naruto.

"Yes I do, Naruto-kun," said Sakura. "You're being silly. Why didn't you tell us?"

"It's the reason I'm neglected," said Naruto. "It's why all the adults hate me so much in this town. They all know what happened, but were forbidden to tell their children, so instead, they just told their kids to leave me alone, because I'm dangerous. It's the cole cause of me being ignored all the time."

"Oh, Naruto, I had no idea," said Sakura. "I'm so sorry. You've had to deal with so much." She hugged Naruto tightly. "Naruto, never be afraid of me. I won't let something as dumb as Kyuubi make me mad at you. Don't worry, I don't hate you."

"Thanks so much, Sakura," said Naruto. "I'd be lost now without you."

"I'd be the one lost without you, Naruto-kun," said Sakura.

* * *

This one wasn't very long, but it got across that the news was out. I liked the last chapter a little more. It was more romantic in my mind, one of my better works.


	4. Farewell, Perhaps Forever

Woot! I am getting a lot more from this story than I expected! Obviously, someone out there enjoys it. But that can't be possible. Everybody, you might want to post this on your fav's list, because you'll definitely want to know this story is going to be a long term work. Oh yeah. I'm stoked baby!

And this chapter is very long. You'll like it. I gaurantee it.

* * *

With reluctance to let her go, Naruto had to take Sakura to her home so her parents wouldn't worry so much. He would've liked nothing more than to have her stay another night with him, but he knew it would be asking way too much.

"Sorry Naruto," said Sakura from her doorway before he could even ask. "I can't come over to your apartment tonight, but I'll come by tomorrow morning."

"I know Sakura-chan," answered Naruto with a blush and holding his hand behind his head. "I'll let you go. Bye Sakura." Naruto started to turn and walk away with a smile on his face. This day started great, went into the shitter, and then recovered quite nicely. He couldn't possibly feel any more elated, any higher.

Sakura grabbed his hand before he could turn fully and tugged him towards her, whirling him to face her. In an instant, her lips locked with his. She had instigated their first kiss. Naruto's mind exploded with so much. It felt good. That was about all he could think of. She tasted good, _very_ good. _Wow._

Sakura pulled away after several prolonged seconds as they both came up for air. She smiled shyly, starting to blush. Was she ashamed of what she had done, perhaps afraid Naruto didn't like it? He stood, completely speechless and shocked, his mouth hung slightly open.

She apparently thought that she had offended him. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. I didn't mean to-

Naruto leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, lacing a hand around the back of her neck and through her strands of hair. Sakura was more than happy to oblige and returned his kiss, closing her eyes. They drank in each others' taste and feelings until Naruto knew, with regret, that he would have to be leaving.

What if Sakura's mother or father just waltzed by. He'd be dead. Absolutely no doubt about it. He pulled away, breaking their closeness and grinning. Sakura slowly opened her eyes. They were misted over with the drunkenness of their passionate kiss. "Sorry, Sakura-chan," he whispered. "But I must be going. Your parents would kill me if they saw us… And it's late."

"I know," whispered Sakura with a smile. "I'll definitely be seeing you tomorrow though." She began to close her door as Naruto replied in a low whisper.

"Count on it."

Naruto skipped, yes, he _skipped,_ on his way home that late evening. Most people stared, but he couldn't have cared in the least. It was all he could do to not just scream his joy into the clouds as he _skipped_ to his apartment.

Of course, he almost didn't recognize his apartment when he arrived, because it was so clean, but then he remembered tidying the place earlier that day. Naruto went to bed without a care in the world that night. Hell, Itachi himself could've entered his room and killed him, and he would've died the happiest man on Earth.

Fortunately for Naruto, no members of Akatsuki attacked that night.

_Ehhh, I'm hungry. I could really go for some ramen right now, come to think of it. It smells so good._ Naruto inhaled deeply as an image of a box of ramen noodles hovered in front of him. Finally, Naruto was having _good_ dreams.

_Come to me, oh Ramen of the Gods. Naruto reached up from his bed, groping at the air. I want you for my dinner. You taste so good. Yay for Ramen!_

"_Naruto!" replied the box of Ramen. Naruto stopped groping. He'd had some strange variants of Ramen before, but none that talked. No, Ramen didn't talk. "Naruto!" said the voice again. This Ramen was obviously feminine, as it sounded like a sweet girl he knew with pink hair and green eyes._

"_You sound like Sakura, Ramen," said Naruto to the box of Ramen in his dreams. "Do you taste as good as Sakura, Ramen?" Naruto grinned stupidly. "Nope. Sakura tastes so good, better than Ramen."_

_Naruto tasted something very familiar, something wet and sweet. 'It does taste like Sakura,' he thought. 'Wait a second. Since when does Ramen taste this good? Nah, that's impossible.'_

Naruto opened his eyes slowly and saw Sakura's face over his own as she withdrew from the kiss. (In case you're dull, Sakura kissed him while he was dreaming about the Ramen)

"Sakura," he said with a smile. Sakura was smiling just as widely, pleased with herself evidently. "How did you-Why-What?" He was stumbling over his words pretty bad.

"What am I doing here?" she asked for him. "I wanted to see you, and I got tired of waiting, so I came along. I thought of you all night, you know."

Sakura carefully crawled off of Naruto and allowed him to slip out of bed. "How'd you get in?" he asked.

"Your window was open," said Sakura matter-of-factly, pointing to the ajar window. "I am a shinobi as well, so getting in wasn't a problem. With your snoring, it was easy to be stealthy."

Naruto laughed. "No, I couldn't have been snoring… Was I?"

"Maybe," teased Sakura. "I don't know."

"No way," said Naruto. "I do NOT snore."

"Guess you'll never know, will you?" said Sakura with a laugh. Naruto sighed as he stood and stretched. "So, I was here for part of your dream. Tell me, Naruto, which tastes better? Ramen, or Me? Because I'm pretty sure I heard you say I taste better."

Naruto blushed terribly, more red than he had ever turned in his life. He let out an audible gasp. Sakura grinned. "You didn't hear that," said Naruto.

"Oh yeah, I did," said Sakura. "So you think I taste better than Ramen? Well, that's a relief. I don't want any competition out there."

"Sakura, stop teasing me," pouted the blonde. "That's mean." Sakura laughed.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. It was just so funny. It was adorable to see you stirring there, talking to Ramen in your sleep." She walked over to the kitchen. "I'll make it up to you and fix some more of that bacon and eggs, if you'll allow it."

"Yes please," said Naruto, smiling that signature, million dollar smile he always gave. Sakura giggled as she heated the food in the skillet. One breakfast later, the morning was almost over, as Naruto had substantially slept in. The two of them took a walk through the streets of Konoha together, hand in hand.

Their walk, of course, picked up the eyes of many passers-by and bystanders, but they didn't care. Sakura knew what many of them thought of the blonde, how they thought he was dangerous. Now she understood everything. It made her so angry at everyone for their cruelty. She couldn't believe she used to be one of them. She was still so upset over it.

Naruto didn't seem to care about the attention though. He walked along happily as ever in a march of defiance against the public's rudeness, his head up and his eyes beaming with delight. Sakura noticed his care free attitude and smiled inwardly. He was so cute. She didn't know how she hadn't noticed it all this time.

"What do you want to do today, Sakura?" asked Naruto.

"I hadn't really thought of that, to tell you the truth," said Sakura. "Is there anything you had in mind? I'm up for anything."

"Well, you treated me to a wonderful breakfast for the past couple of days, so why don't I treat you the best I can offer," said Naruto. "Do you like Ramen?"

"Eh, Naruto, we just ate minutes ago," said Sakura. "You're not still hungry are you? I'm stuffed to tell you the truth."

"Oh," said Naruto, temporarily derailed. "Well then, why don't just walk around for a while? Maybe we'll think of something as we go."

"Anywhere in particular?" asked Sakura.

"Nope," said Naruto. "I just like to walk aimlessly. Is that okay with you?"

"I'd be delighted, Naruto-kun," said Sakura. "Aimlessly it is!"

The couple just wandered without purpose along the market district streets, passing the street venders and shops on the sides of the road. They looked in the many windows with interest at what was for sale everywhere. There were souvenir shops, trinket shops, candy stores, weapon shops, et cetera.

Without any money, they couldn't buy anything of course, but it was still fun to just spend a few hours doing nothing and dreaming of what they'd do with all the various items on the shelves. They had a great time just being together. Neither of them wanted this to end-ever.

The week soon passed, and it wasn't until the last day that Naruto considered his options for his continuing career. He wasn't going to quit being a ninja. That was for sure. He didn't give up, and he never would, so long as he lived. But he still had a hard decision to make. He had no idea what Sakura was planning though. He wondered if Sasuke's death had affected her so much that she would quit. He sincerely hoped it wouldn't go that far.

They stood side by side in her office in front of her desk. As was usual, she looked dead tired and lacking enthusiasm. She was always stressed and over worked it seemed. "So, you two, what have you decided?" she asked, looking up from her seat.

"I'm not quitting," said Naruto. "I'm going to remain a ninja."

"Glad to hear it," said Tsunade with a smile. "How about you, Sakura? What is your decision?"

"I too would like to continue my career as a ninja," she said sternly. "I would like to remain Naruto's team member and retake the Chounin examination the next time it is offered."

"Good," said Tsunade. "You are both very brave. You will make great shinobis some day. Hell, you're great shinobis already. I mean to say you're both going to be greater than ever." She smiled sweetly.

"Well, take another few day off," said Tsunade, "until I can find out exactly what to do with you two. You're dismissed." Sakura left as Naruto told her he'd catch up later. She questioned him what for, but he only shook his head and beckoned for her to leave.

"You want something again, Naruto?" asked Tsunade.

"I wish to leave," said Naruto.

"Well, I just dismissed you, Baka," she replied. "What's holding you."

"That's not the kind of leaving I meant," added Naruto. He stood quietly as Tsunade examined him sternly and carefully. "I wish to leave Konoha."

"Naruto, what are you talking about?" she asked. "You can't just leave. There are dangerous people that are hunting you."

"Exactly," said Naruto. "If Akatsuki comes to Konoha, there will be hell to pay. You know they'll attack and that many will die. You know how strong they are. Itachi alone could destroy this place, I fear."

"Naruto," she said quietly, standing up. "What will leaving accomplish?"

"He'll be training," said Jiraiya as he entered through the door. He smiled jovially, like he always did. "Good to see you again, Tsunade-sama."

"Tsunade-sama," said Naruto. "Please, I'm leaving because I don't want anyone to be hurt because of me. I've seen it already, and I don't want it to happen again."

"Naruto, Sasuke's death isn't you fault," said the Hokage.

"I'd rather not talk about that," said Naruto quickly. "Please, ma'am. I have to go. You know it's the best choice. You have to make the right decision as Hokage of Konoha. It's your duty to keep this village safe."

"He's right," said Jiraiya. "Naruto is right. Akatsuki will come for him again, and if they come to the village, a whole lot of innocent people will die. If he's with me, we can hide better and I can protect him while training him."

"How long will you be gone for?" asked Tsunade.

"I don't know," said Naruto. "Months, years, possibly forever. As long as it takes. I can't risk having people hurt if I can help it."

"Permission granted," said the Hokage painfully. She walked over to Naruto and hugged him. "Be careful, Naruto. Don't do anything stupid and get yourself killed. I want to see you again someday-alive."

"I will try my best," said Naruto. "That's all I can promise."

"Then I know were destined to meet again," said Tsunade with a smile. "If you're going to be doing your best, then I have no doubt in my mind that's enough to keep you alive."

"When would you like to leave, kid?" said Jiraiya. "I'm ready when you are."

"Tomorrow," said Naruto. "We'll get some rest tonight and leave noon tomorrow. Sound good enough?"

"Perfect," said Jiraiya. "I'll meet you by the exit gates at noon. See you tomorrow. Bye Tsunade."

"Bye, Jiraiya."

Naruto faced his Hokage again. "I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama."

"Don't apologize, Naruto," she said with a weak smile. "I know you're just trying to protect us. You shouldn't be the one to have to bear this responsibility. You're too young for this."

"But it's the hand I was dealt," said Naruto sagely. "I have to do something about it."

"Very wisely said," said Tsunade. "You're right. You can't affect the past. Just try and protect your future. I don't want to hear news of your death from a traveler. If you die, I'll spit on your grave. Do you hear me?"

"Alright, ma'am," he said with a weak laugh. "I promise, I won't screw up. I'll do my best."

Naruto walked slowly out of the building and into the streets. Sakura had been leaning up against the wall when he came out without a word. She ran up to his side and laced her arm through one of his and smiled up at him.

"So, what is it you wanted to talk with the Hokage about?" she asked with a great smile. Her smile immediately died when he saw the pained, depressed look that played across his features. "Naruto-kun, what's wrong? What did you talk about?"

"Sakura, I need to talk with you alone, preferably sitting down," said Naruto.

"Umm, okay," replied the girl. She led him over to bench on the side of the road that they found on the way back to his place. The sun was beginning to set on the horizon, casting long shadows of themselves on the ground.

"Sakura," he said, taking her hand into his. "I… I'm going to be leaving… Konoha."

"When?" she asked.

"Tomorrow," he answered. She gasped. "I'm going out with Jiraiya to train and hide from the Akatsuki."

"For how long?" asked Sakura sadly. "When will you be coming back?"

"I just don't know, Sakura," said Naruto. "I'm sorry I can't say, but it may be a very, very long time… I may never return to Konoha." Sakura brought her free hand to cover her mouth as her eyes welled with tears.

"I'm so sorry, Sakura," said Naruto. "I just thought about this the past few days, and realized it's the best choice for me."

"How can you figure?" asked Sakura. "You can't just leave me like this? What have I got left if down," said Naruto.

"Umm, okay," replied the girl. She led him over to bench on the side of the road that they found on the way back to his place. The sun was beginning to set on the horizon, casting long shadows of themselves on the ground.

"Sakura," he said, taking her hand into his. "I… I'm going to be leaving… Konoha."

"When?" she asked.

"Tomorrow," he answered. She gasped. "I'm going out with Jiraiya to train and hide from the Akatsuki."

"For how long?" asked Sakura sadly. "When will you be coming back?"

"I just don't know, Sakura," said Naruto. "I'm sorry I can't say, but it may be a very, very long time… I may never return to Konoha." Sakura brought her free hand to cover her mouth as her eyes welled with tears.

"I'm so sorry, Sakura," said Naruto. "I just thought about this the past few days, and realized it's the best choice for me."

"How can you figure?" asked Sakura. "You can't just leave me like this? What have I got left if _you_ go too? I'll have no one."

"Sakura, I have to," said Naruto painfully. "If Akatsuki comes looking for me, you know what will happen to this place. Lots of people will die. I don't want anyone hurt because of me or a stupid demon inside me, especially you, Sakura."

"But-

"It's already been decided, and Tsunade approved it," cut in Naruto. "Please, don't try to talk me out of it, because I fear it might work, and I'll make the wrong decision."

"I don't want you to go, Naruto," sobbed Sakura. She threw herself into his arms and started to cry.

"It's okay, Sakura," he said, rubbing her back. "I'll be fine, and you'll be fine. You know this is the right thing to do. Don't you?"

"I know," said Sakura, recovering from her sobbing. "Y-You're right. I don't like it, but I know it's what you have to do."

"Thanks, Sakura," whispered Naruto. "Thanks for being everything I needed this past week. You've… been the best."

"You're welcome," laughed Sakura.

"There's the laughter I expect," said Naruto lightly. "It kills me to see you cry, Sakura. So don't cry. When you feel like crying, think of something to cheer you up. Think only happy thoughts, Sakura. Don't cry. Laugh. Do it for me. Okay?"

"Okay, Naruto-kun," replied Sakura, snuggling into his chest tightly. "I'll smile for you. But you better come back, or I'll find you and kick your ass."

It pained Naruto to have to take her home afterwards and leave her so depressed, but it was already dark, and he didn't want her parents worried for her. He dropped her off at her house and left for his own. He was wiped out from all the emotional stress of the later part of the day, so he didn't delay in getting t bed. Looking out his open window at the city of Konoha below, the city he knew he would miss, he fell asleep.

But he woke up when something entered through that window later that night. Naruto came out of his slumber what he figured wasn't long after he fell asleep and saw Sakura recovering from her entry into his apartment.

She walked towards his bed. "Sakura, what are you-

She pressed a finger to his lips and quietly pulled back his blankets, crawling under them and pulling them up again and curling up next to Naruto and laying her head on his chest. She didn't say anything. She just snuggled up close to him and draped her arms around him. Naruto, of course, was completely baffled, and he looked down to see the girl already starting to fall asleep. Silently shrugging it off, he wrapped his arm around her and moved to better accommodate her so she could sleep comfortably. They both fell asleep quickly, feeling as secure as ever in each others' arms.

Naruto, more than anything, would be missing this while he was gone.

The next morning, Naruto woke up with Sakura's head still on his chest. She was very warm, and Naruto was so reluctant to wake her and make her move. He didn't ever want her to leave him, but he would have to get her to move. Her chest was slowly rising and falling with her delayed breathing. He decided to just watch her quietly from his position and drink in how much he was going to miss her. He'd miss her pink hair, her emerald-green eyes, her smiles, her laughter, her red dress, her polar attitude shifts, everything. There wasn't a thing about Haruno Sakura that he wouldn't miss.

"Sakura," he whispered into her ear. "Sakura, it's time to wake up." She stirred in her position and rolled over on top of Naruto. He turned red, but he focused on the matter on hand. He had to wake her up, no matter how much he enjoyed having her on top of him like this.

"Sakura," he said more forcefully. He kissed her forehead, and her eyes opened. "Come on little Sakura, wakey-wakey time."

She blinked hard a few times before realizing her precarious position, and she blushed. "Good morning Sakura," said Naruto. "Have a nice sleep?"

"Yeah," said Sakura, rolling off of him. She wrapped her arms around his neck tightly, never wanting to let go. Naruto didn't want her to let go either. He knew better though. He was going to leave, and no one could stop him.

He pushed himself up and got out of bed, leaving Sakura to sit and watch him. He checked his watch. He would be leaving in a couple hours. "Sakura," he said. "Could… you make me one last breakfast?" Sakura's eyes turned to sadness, but she gave him her best smile possible and nodded.

Sakura left after breakfast, promising she'd be at the gate to see him off when he left. Naruto was a little upset for her to have left so early, but he figured she needed to tell her parents what she had done again last night, so he didn't argue or question. She left, and Naruto went over to the sink to do his own dishes, laughing at the absurdity of him doing basic cleaning.

All because of a girl… All because of Haruno Sakura.

He walked to the exit gates of Konoha with a small pack over his shoulders, packed with basic living necessities and some ninja weapons and tools. He shifted it uneasily as the gate came into view.

What also came into view troubled him only slightly. There were people there, lots of people at that. They saw him coming down the path and waved for him to come along. He hastened his pace until he arrived, panting for air.

He looked up at all of the people waiting for him. It was everyone, all of his friends. Lee, Neji, Tenten, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba and his dog: Akamaru, Hinata, and Shino. Also there was Konohamaru, Tsunade, Iruka, Kakashi-sensei, and Sakura. Jiraia was standing behind them all, waiting at the gate.

"What the- What are you guys doing here?" asked Naruto.

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Shikamaru. "You really can be dull sometimes."

"We're here to see you off, Dummy," said Ino.

"We didn't want you gone without saying goodbye first," said Kiba. "What kind of friends would we be?"

"Friends?" asked Naruto. Emotion began to overcome him.

"Yeah, man," said Lee. "We're your pals, right? It would be terrible to have let you leave without properly sending you off."

"You guys shouldn't have," said Naruto with a smile.

"But they wanted to," said Sakura with a bright smile. "I told them you were leaving, and I barely had to even suggest gathering to say goodbye. They jumped at the chance to come, Naruto-kun."

"Thanks guys," said Naruto, blushing.

"Don't mention it, little guy," said Iruka from the back. "We'd never let you away like that." He walked up to Naruto and hugged him warmly. "Don't tell anyone, but you've always been my favorite student."

Kakashi walked up next and extended his hand. "Sorry, no hugs from me. Good luck Naruto." Naruto shook his hand with a triumphant smile. "You can come through anything you face. I'm sure you'll do great."

Tsunade walked up and hugged him also, tears starting to come to her eyes. "Come on, you're the Hokage," said Naruto. "You can't be crying like this in front of everyone. No frowns… only smiles."

"I know," she said. "You're right. Goodbye Naruto."

"You will be coming back," said Shikamaru from the side. Naruto faced him and nodded.

"I'll try my best," he said. "Maybe not."

"Oh yes he will," said Neji. "This twerp could never leave us alone. Now is no different. He'll be back." He gave Naruto a smile, something very uncharacteristic of him. Naruto returned the smile at his insult.

"When you return," said Rock Lee, "I'll be expecting a fight to see how strong you've become."

"That's fine, Lee," said Naruto unenthusiastically. Sakura walked up to him and hugged him with tears coming out of her eyes.

"Sakura," said Naruto, trying his best not to start crying as well.

"I know you have to go, Naruto-kun," she said. "I won't dare try to stop you. Just… be careful, okay? Please, come back safe for me."

Naruto didn't reply. He perked her head up with his hand under her chin. "I said no sad faces," he said with his cheery smile. "Didn't I ask only for smiles and happiness?" Sakura nodded and laughed a little. "That's better. If it ever hurts, just think of something that will make you happy, okay? That's how it's always helped me."

"Okay, Naruto-kun," she replied. "When I'm sad, I'll think of you." Naruto hugged Sakura as tight as he could without crushing her, and he left go to turn and face Jiraiya.

"You ready?" he asked the boy.

"You bet, old man," said Naruto defiantly. "Let's go." He followed his new sensei out of town and into the forest. They group all watched as he disappeared into the deep jungles. Naruto was one, and no one knew when, if ever, he would be returning.

Sakura waited at the exit long after everyone had left. She stood there alone for over an hour.

Not a single tear escaped her eyes. She didn't cry or sob, or even frown.

No, she was smiling her most genuine smile as she looked into the woods.

"_When I'm sad, Naruto-kun… I'll think of you."

* * *

_

Okay everyone, you can let it out now. "**_Awwwwwwwww." _**Better? Good. I won't say much more, other than that this is not the end of this story. Oh no, there's more to come. I like this chapter a lot more than any other thing I've ever typed I think.


	5. Welcome Back Friend

I'm sorry if I left you readers in a bit of a depressive slump from the last chapter. Don't worry; we will be seeing Naruto again, perhaps very soon. Geeze, the story's about him and Sakura for God's sake.

* * *

It was daytime in Konoha. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and people were happy to be outside on the streets enjoying the beautiful late spring weather. One person in particular loved the weather just as well.

The tall, pink-haired girl with lively green eyes walked along slowly with a basket of flowers she had been picking in the forests of Konoha village. The wind gently flapped her traditional red dress that she was accustomed to wearing while she hummed a happy tune, the same tune she'd been humming for years, ever since she's woken up in that strange, blonde boy's apartment.

She smiled at the thought of Naruto. How could she not smile? He made her so happy, even though she'd not seen him in almost five years. She pulled some strands of hair from out of her eyes as she entered the flower shop that Ino helped to manage with her mother.

"Hey Sakura!" called the blonde from the entrance of the store room

"Yo! Ino," she replied. "Brought some more flowers."

"Cool," said Ino. "Just bring them back here and we'll sort them out." Sakura had been working with Ino at her flower shop as aside job for a couple years now. Both she and Ino' careers as Shinobis came first, but when there was free time, they enjoyed their hobby of flower sales.

Of course, Sakura had also been receiving tough training for almost five years from the Hokage, Tsunade, in the arts of medical jutsus and techniques.

"How's Tsunade-sama?" asked Ino as they knelt over the basket and picked flowers out of it.

"She's tough as ever," said Sakura. "Still over works me, but it keeps me busy I guess. I'd be bored if I didn't have something to do."

"I hear ya'."

It has been five years since Naruto left Konoha village to train and hide with Jiraiya. Everyone had changed, of course in their own little ways. Sakura had grown and matured much over the years, as anyone could expect.

Nothing had been revealed concerning Akatsuki. They were almost considered a forgotten threat, almost, because they'd not shown themselves since their attack on the Uchiha kid.

Kakashi, looking the same as ever, stood in the Shinobi memorial cemetery. He had just finished his visit with Obito, so he stood in front of Sasuke's grave. "Yo, Sasuke, I'm back, again. Just had a chat with Obito." Kakashi sighed. "I've chosen to not take another team again. You and the others were the only team I've ever had… I don't think I'll ever take another."

"I wonder how Naruto's doing," he continued. "You two were always fighting, but I know it was just pushing each other to do better. I know he's not dead. I can just tell, you know?"

_But I still wonder what's going on out there._

Somone vary familiar to Konoha was standing atop a chimney on top of a tall building. He was, at the moment, the tallest person in Konoha. He looked down at all the people going around. The town seemed a lot more lively than it used to. The man ran a hand through his shaggy, spikey blonde hair as he closed his eyes and soaked in the wind.

He was wearing a black, skin tight t shirt with an orange jacket over it and orange and blue pants.

"Is it good to be home?" asked Jiraiya from behind him.

"Yeah," said the blonde. "I can't wait to see everyone."

He walked into a street corner flower shop and inhaled the sweet aroma of all the mixed flowers in the air. It was damn near intoxicating. He smiled and walked up to the counter, where a familiar girl with pink hair and a red dress stood with her back to him. She was arranging some flowers that he couldn't see.

"Be with you in a minute," said Sakura, still working on the flowers.

"Well hurry up," said Naruto impatiently, joking.

"Well, you'll wait," said Sakura.

"But I want Sakura now," pouted Naruto.

"We're out of Sakura anyway," she said. She still busied herself with the flowers. "Sorry, but I'll be receiving some later this afternoon, if you'll come back then.

"I'm not here for some flowers, Sakura," said Naruto, leaning over the counter.

Sakura grew tired and turned around. "Well, this is a flower shop, so if you're looking for anything but f-

She was staring into the blue eyes of Naruto, the eyes she could never not recognize, the eyes she couldn't possibly ever forget. She couldn't forget that big, stupid smile of his either, the million-dollar smile he was giving her now."

She dropped the vase of flowers she was holding and couldn't move. Her eyes were wide opened, her mouth trying to move. "As I said," continued Naruto, "I am not looking for the Sakura flower. I'm just looking for Sakura." He smiled even wider.

"Sakura, what did you drop?" asked Ino, walking in. "You're so clumsy you idiot…" She looked up at Sakura, who was still struck dumb and motionless. "Sakura, what is your problem?" She looked at Naruto. "Hi, who are you?"

"N-Naruto," gasped Sakura.

"Naruto!" shouted Ino. "Oh my God! Naruto's back!"

Sakura fell backwards and fainted. Naruto peaked over the counter at her unconscious form on the floor. "Well, I wasn't expecting to knock her out," he said honestly. "I just wanted to surprise her."

Naruto followed Ino into the back with Sakura in his arms, still asleep. A moment later, they placed a cold, wet towel on her forehead as she lay with her head in Naruto's lap. He stroked the hair out of her eyes as she began to wake up.

"There we go," said Naruto. "Let's try this again. Hi Sakura."

"Naruto?" asked Sakura. "Y-You're back? I can't believe it." She jumped up and wrapped her arms tight around his neck, squeezing as tight as she could. Naruto resisted the urge to choke, so he let her have her way, until she released him.

"You've been gone too long," said Sakura, breaking away. "Where've you been?"

"Around," said Naruto with a smile. "Come on. You and Ino are the only ones who know I'm back. Would you care to join me for a walk?"

"Yeah sure," said Sakura quickly, jumping up and running out of the store room. "I'll tell Ino."

Ino allowed her off work to be with Naruto, and the two walked along the roads of Konoha. Naruto wasn't easy to recognize because of his growth, so no one looked at him funny like they used to. It was like he was in a new town, because he wasn't treated with a neglect like he always was.

"Wow, I can't believe how long I've been out," he said mostly to himself, but loud enough that Sakura could hear him. She had her arm wrapped around his. "Konoha's not very different."

"No, it isn't," said Sakura. "It's mostly remained as peaceful as ever. Nothing's changed. Tsunade's still the Hokage."

"I know," said Naruto. Sakura questioned him. "I've been keeping tabs on this place for a while, just checking up on things. For instance, I knew exactly where to go to find you."

"Ah," said Sakura. She couldn't say anything more. She didn't know how to talk or act. She was still in a state of shock, and she found it very strange to be finally standing next to Naruto after he'd been out of town for so long.

"So how have you been Sakura?" asked Naruto.

"Good," said Sakura plainly. "I've been training with Tsunade-sama for a long time now. She's been my new sensei ever since you left."

"Yeah, I wondered how that was going," said Naruto. "Are you stronger?"

"Yes," she answered. "Loads. She's taught me all sorts of medical jutsus and attacks too. It's been really rough though. She's very demanding."

"Tell me about it," said Naruto. "I'm on my way to her office. Wanna come with me?"

"Are you kidding?" asked Sakura. "Now that you're back, I'm never letting you go."

"That's a yes then," replied Naruto with a hearty laugh. "Tell me about everything on the way."

Sakura talked about everything she knew of that Naruto had missed over the years. She described how Kakashi had taken to just jounin missions and no longer was an instructor or mentor. Much to Naruto's delight, his favorite Ramen stand was still up. Iruka, he learned, still was an instructor at the Academy.

"And everyone's at Chuunin rank or higher by now," added Sakura.

"No way," said Naruto. He recalled that he was still just a Genin.

"Yeah," said Sakura. "Shikamaru and Neji and Rock Lee made it to jounin level this past year. Every other student attained Chuunin rank at the tournament after you left."

"You're Chuunin level then?" he asked.

"Err, no, I'm still a Genin," she replied embarrassedly. "I never took the exams. I've been so busy with Tsunade."

"Wow," said Naruto. "So you and me kinda got left behind." Sakura nodded silently as they entered the office building of the Hokage. "Wait out here for a minute. I'll try and keep it quick."

He strode up to the door of her office, which was guarded by two masked Anbu. "She's in a meeting at the moment," said one of the Anbu. "You'll have to wait to see the Hokage."

"It's little important," said Naruto.

"Sorry, but you're not allowed to enter," said the other Anbu.

"Then tell the _old hag_ someone's here to see her!" shouted Naruto loudly. Inside, the Hokage was holding a meeting when she heard someone call her an old hag in a strangely familiar voice. The voice was a little different, but it sounded awfully like someone she hadn't seen in a long time.

"Who dared call me an old hag?" she asked, rising from her desk and walking to the door.

She flung open the door, seeing Naruto arguing with the two Anbu, who seemed ready to kill him if only he would provoke them.

"Naruto!" she shouted suddenly. They stopped their argument and looked up. Both the Anbu saluted, while Naruto straightened himself.

"Hey there, you old hag," said Naruto with gusto. Sakura covered her mouth to stifle a gasp. She just saw him call the Hokage a nasty name.

"Why you little- Tsunade looked about ready to explode. "You little twerp!" She pulled him into a hug and rustled his hair with a smile. "You're back. How long have you been in Konoha?"

"A few minutes," said Naruto. "It's good to see you too, Tsunade-sama."

"Naruto?" asked someone behind them in the office. Naruto peered around and saw Shikamaru standing there with a few other ninja.

"Hey, Shikamaru! How's it going?" asked Naruto with a grin. "I heard you became a Jounin. I couldn't believe it until I saw it. Damn. You look good." Shikamaru had indeed grown another foot since he last saw him. His black hair was still tied in the traditional short pony tail, and he wore his green, Konoha flak jacket.

They touched fists as they greeted each other. The meeting had officially been disturbed, much to Tsunade's displeasure, but she was too happy to see Naruto back in her town, so she postponed the meeting for later that evening. She knew people were too distracted anyway to take anything seriously.

Everyone but Naruto left, who stood in her office at attention while she took her seat.

"Well Naruto, I imagine there's a reason for you having come here," said Tsunade. "So tell me. What have you been up to?"

* * *

That's it for this chapter. Sorry it isn't much. Just a little BS. We'll find out how much Naruto has really grown next time. 


	6. Enemy of Our Enemy

This story has become a bit more popular than I expected. I have received 31 reviews over teh course of five chapters. Not one of my stories has grossed that many per chapter like this one has. I'm very proud. Oh, and I've recently heard a rumor that I'm pretty sure is true, but I cannot confirm it. If anyone can, it'd be great. The rumor is that Naruto, the Anime,is said to finally be coming to the States on Toonami, Cartoon Network, or something like that. I'm pretty sure it's true, but can't be too safe. Personally, I thinkI'd die of heart failure after seeing just one episode. I'd go into shock, start convulsing, then star frothing from the mouth, and then my heart would explode in my chest, sending blood all over the place.

But I'd die happy.

Very

Very'

Happy...Yes

* * *

"I'm not sure whether to call it good news or bad news," started Naruto. "It's hard to tell, so I'll just spit it out." Naruto was standing before the Hokage's desk in Konoha. She sat with her hands folded on top of the desk and some papers.

"So, go on," said Tsunade impatiently. "Spit it out boy."

"It concerns both Akatsuki and Orochimaru and the Sand," said Naruto. "Orochimaru has taken on another body, first of all."

"I'm not surprised," said Tsunade heatedly. "Get to the point Naruto."

"Orochimaru and all of his sound nins have been decimated," said Naruto finally.

"They _what!_" yelled Tsunade. "Decimated? How in the hell did that happen?"

"Orochimaru was a little pissed with Akatsuki for taking his chosen host," said Naruto. "Not long ago, he decided to attack them and Itachi. The Akatsuki and Sound fought a very bloody battle. Many died on both sides, but Akatsuki was better off in the long run. Only a handful of the sound escaped with their lives, including Orochimaru… He was injured pretty bad though."

Naruto couldn't help but smile as he added this last bit.

"Had you seen any of this?" asked Tsunade.

"Afraid I didn't get to witness it firsthand," said Naruto. "The battle was over by the time I stumbled across the warzone. I was sneaking around a rumored spot that Akatsuki supposedly stayed, and I found everything in ruin…

"There was a dying sound nin there," added Naruto. "I found out from him. He didn't seem to know who I was. He just wanted to tell somebody I guess."

"This is a huge development," said Tsunade. "Thank you Naruto. We'll see how this plays out for Konoha. Hopefully, this benefits us."

"No problem," said Naruto. "That's the main cause for my return. I just wanted to tell someone about it. Our two biggest threats beat the crap out of each other. Lucky, eh?"

"Perhaps," said Tsunade. "Now, was there anything else you wanted to say?"

"When is the next Chuunin examination?" asked Naruto. "I'm very far behind in rank."

"Does that mean you're staying?" asked Tsunade with a raised brow.

"I'm afraid I don't know, Tsunade sama," replied the blonde boy. "I just don't know how long I'll be in Konoha. I figured I could risk it with Akatsuki in their state of peril. I also got a bit stronger myself, though."

"I expected as much," said the Hokage with a smile. "The next Chuunin exam will be held in a month, Naruto. If you want to enter, it'd be no problem. We just need to get you fixed up with a team. Sakura was expressing her interest at entering this year as well. I'm sure it's safe to say you would like to be teamed with her?"

"Yes!" said Naruto. "And a third teammate?"

"I'll get working on that," said Tsunade. "I think we don't have a number divisible by three, but we will work something out. If we have to, we can place you and Sakura as a two man team."

"Yeah, I guess," said Naruto. "We're much stronger than the competition."

Outside, Naruto met with Sakura, who was leaning against the wall and humming a happy tune. She noticed he was there and jumped to throw her arms around him with a laugh.

"What's gotten into _you_?" asked Naruto as she let go.

"I'm just excited to see you," said Sakura. "Is that a problem? I could leave."

"Oh no you don't," said Naruto. "You're not leaving me now." He reached around and picked Sakura up around the waist and hoisted her over his shoulder. She squeeled.

"Naruto!" she said. "What the hell are you doing you idiot? Lemme down! You crazy, no good…"

Naruto laughed out loud as he carried her down the street with a great big smile on his face and a girl slung over his shoulder. "Naruto!" screamed Sakura. "I'm warning you! If you keep this up, I'm-

"You'll what, Sakura?" asked Naruto, letting her down after a minute. Sakura didn't say anything. Naruto laughed again.

A plume of smoke erupted in front of them, and the silver haired jounin arose from it gracefully. He looked up from an orange booklet in his one hand. "Eh, Naruto!" he said with a smile playing through the mask. "I thought I hear chaos in the streets. You must've been the source."

"You bet!" said Naruto. "It's great to see you Kakashi-sensei."

"It's good to see you too, Naruto. My, you sure have grown, haven't you?" He eyed his once young, tiny student. Now the boy was much more mature. "You think he's grown up a lot, Sakura?" he asked.

Sakura blushed a little as she looked away. In her mind, she thought he'd matured into an even cuter blonde than ever before. He looked strong and powerful now, releasing an aura of chakra stronger than ever she's seen from him. At the same time, however, his face still displayed that gentle kindness she'd come to love, like that power didn't mean anything to him, that he just wanted to be the nice guy.

"Uh, yeah, sure," said Sakura in a mumble. Kakashi bowed slightly.

"Well, I'm afraid I cannot stay," he said dismissively. "I have some work to finish up. I'll meet up with you sometime Naruto, Sakura too. See you later!" Kakashi disappeared into thin air, leaving behind the small, grey cloud of smoke.

"He's been taking a lot of missions," said Sakura. "Ever since you left, there haven't been any team duties, so he went on solo missions for the last five years. I haven't even seen much of him myself," she explained.

She looked up at Naruto, who was looking around the place around them. He was enjoying seeing everything again, evidently. She hugged his middle with a smile. "I'm so glad you're back, Naruto-kun." Naruto looked down at Sakura in surprise, but smiled back.

"I'm happy to be back too," said Naruto. "It's been too long."

They walked down the street for over an hour, talking about things like their fellow students and the state of Konoha.

"We've been at peace for all five years," said Sakura. "We've not had any trouble with Orochimaru or Akatsuki, but I suppose that's because you and Sasuke weren't here anymore." Naruto didn't look at Sakura when she mentioned their former teammate's name

He was surprised that she was so easily able to talk about him. She had brought him up like it didn't mean anything anymore. Sakura must've known what he was thinking about. "I got over that a long time ago, Naruto," she said with a smile. "It took a little while, but I always took your advice."

"_My_ advice?" asked Naruto with a quirked eyebrow.

"Yeah," said Sakura. "If I ever felt sad or lonely, I tried to think about something happy. Do you want to know what I always thought of?" she asked, leaning in close to him.

"What's that?" asked Naruto with a laugh.

"You silly," said Sakura. "Whenever I was sad, I thought about you, Naruto-kun. And you know, it worked every time."

Naruto smiled warmly as he looked ahead again. "Thanks, Sakura," he said. "That means a lot to me. To tell you the truth, I thought about you a lot while I was gone."

Naruto wrapped an arm around her shoulder as they continued to walk. "I missed you a lot. More than I thought I would."

"I know you did," she replied quietly with a smile. "And I missed you. But now you're back for good. Now you're home, and we won't have to miss each other anymore, right?"

Naruto's smile faltered as he decided against trying to look her in the face. "Naruto? You're back now, right? You're home for good, aren't you, Naruto-kun."

"Sure, Sakura," he said halfheartedly. He looked over at her finally and put on his well-practiced smile. It warmed Sakura's heart enough for her to be convinced. "I'm home now." She hugged his waist harder and smiled.

_Finally, my Naruto-kun has returned,_ she thought. _Finally, home at last._

* * *

Naruto doesn't know yet if he'll have to leave yet. He's not explained some things to Sakura that he will have to eventually, like how Akatsuki and Orochimaru had a fight. Yikes! I can't be telling you all this!

This chapter sucked compared to the others. Go ahead and say it. I don't mind. I agree completely with you. Just try and be a bit patient. We may soon be seeing some action in a very heated battle. Give it a while. Thanks to all who've been reviewing this work. You have my undying gratitude, that you do.


	7. A Night They'd Never Forget

YO! I'm back in action you crazy nuts! Oh yeah, feels good to be typin' another bitchin' story. I recently mentioned the rumor of Naruto hitting America as the anime. Someone told me it was true, but I had to be absolutely certain.

I found an interesting article in an Anime Magazine all about the rumor, and it was true. The Anime is hitting Toonami this coming fall. Hell yeah, I can't wait, and I'm sure you guys can't either. I read it's just about popular enough to "Dethrone Goku" and the DBZ empire in America, even though it's not even legal in the States yet. That's fuckin' amazing! Every episode, it is guessed, is downloaded by more than $400,000 different people form the net. I've not been able to accomplish this myself, but I will find a way I hope. Personally, I liked DBZ when it wasn't so redundant and whatnot. After Cell Saga, I lost interest entirely.

Oh, on with the story

On a side note, you'll all probably like what I've done in this one a lot. Unfortnately, I'm not very good at passionate kissing scenes, (OMFG! Was that a hint!") so it may be a bit difficult, and it may not be as good as it could be, but you'll like I hope. Just try and use your god-given imagination. Also something that will probably make you all the more eager to read, I'm going to probably raise the rating by a level. There's no sexual anything people. I have the ability to be decent, but I'm warning you it's going to be pleasantly passionate, and I'm not sure just how I'm supposed to rate stuff. I'm just being safe. If you guys read and think the rating should be returned, tell me in your review.

* * *

Naruto felt terrible to lie to his beloved Sakura so blatantly, but he couldn't bear to see anything disappoint her anymore. This lie, of course, was that he expected to be staying in Konoha forever. The truth was that he had no clue how long he'd be home. Only Tsunade knew he wasn't expecting to be there long.

Sakura walked Naruto home with his arm tightly wrapped in both of hers. She was seemingly never going to let him go. Naruto found himself staring at a very strange apartment when he opened the door to his home from years before.

It was clean.

Almost too clean.

"Sakura," he said, "what did you do to my apartment?" Sakura stifled a giggle and stood on her toes to kiss his cheek.

"Surprise," she said with a smile. "I kinda tidied it up for you so you could come home to a clean home. I… spent a lot of time here after you left." Her smile turned to a more neutral expression. "I didn't want to let the place be left to the bugs and critters and stuff, so I kinda kept it in tact and spent a few nights here every now and then."

"Okay," said Naruto. "I'll just have to find a way to make it all dirty again. I'm sure I can accomplish that pretty easy."

"You wouldn't dare," said Sakura.

"It's my home," said Naruto. "I can do what I want. What's to stop me from letting my home turn to a mess again? You?"

Sakura playfully tackled Naruto to the floor. He fell with a thud and rolled with Sakura's and his arms wrapped in a grapple. Their roll ended with Sakura kneeling over him on his back, his arms pinned above his shoulders.

"Wow, Sakura," said Naruto. "You've gotten stronger."

"Tsunade-sama trains me well," said Sakura with a sly grin.

Neither of them could deny to themselves how much they liked being in this situation. They both did pretty well to hide their blushes as well as their arousal though. However, the wicked smile on Sakura's lips betrayed her thoughts.

"Bad Sakura," said Naruto, returning the grin. "I know what you're thinking."

"You do, do you?" she asked smartly. Naruto lunged upward, effectively throwing himself up, even with her on top of him, and they rolled backwards right onto Sakura's back, this time with her arms pinned above her head… a very precarious position. The tables, as they say, had been turned.

Naruto smiled triumphantly. "Yes, I do," he said with a victorious smile.

Sakura leaned up and whispered into his ear. "If you knew what went on in my head... it would blow your _mind._" Naruto blushed deeply, despite his efforts, as Sakura fell backwards to see the results of her work. She laughed.

"Priceless!" she said, struggling between laughs to breath.

"_Really bad_," said Naruto, covering up his stimulation again. The laughter eventually stopped, and they remained in that position for several long seconds of silence.

_It's been so long since I've seen him,_ thought the female. _He's grown so much in so many ways. His voice is deeper, he's taller, a lot stronger… a lot more masculine._ Her eyes helplessly wandered to his skin tight shirt over his chest. Was the shirt tight by design, or was it just that it didn't fit over his body on account of muscle mass? She didn't care. _He's even more mature. I can still see the same kindness in his eyes, the same love and compassion, along with a little less innocence. I can't believe I survived five years with him gone._

_She's so beautiful_, thought Naruto. _She always has been, of course, but she's bloomed into such a lovely flower, I can't imagine how many other guys want her. Her body had physically matured over the years. _It wasn't a secret the Sakura had, as one might put it, grown, not only taller, and not wider, but grown in the sense of the word that makes every man's eyes inadvertently wonder to the chest area. _If I saw anyone ever look at Sakura that way, I'd kill him on the spot. She's worked hard for a long time too. I didn't think she'd miss me so much._

"Naruto?" asked Sakura, smiling pleasantly.

"Hn?"

"Are you going to kiss me, or are you just going to straddle me and look at me all night?" asked Sakura.

Naruto blushed. Duh, who wouldn't? The most beautiful woman in Naruto's eyes had invited him to kiss her. He didn't waste time talking or even breathing.

He bent down and pressed his lips against hers, and he let himself fall into the state of nirvana he'd not felt in too long. Parting her lips with his tongue, he probed the inside of her mouth, and she eagerly accepted his challenge, allowing his tongue to enter as she played with it with her own.

Her hands slowly trailed up his back and around his neck. She wanted as much of him as she could get, as much as he was willing to give. She knew he was too much of a gentleman to even consider… well, you know, and she wasn't disappointed. She didn't really want anything beyond passionate, err, very passionate, kissing and, as they say, "making out".

Her hands somehow found themselves crawling under his shirt up his well-toned chest. Naruto didn't realize it until a strong case of chills took him by surprise, and he got goose bumps all over, his hair standing on the back of his neck. They slid up his front, and she aided him in removing the black garment.

_He looks damn good._

Her hands slid back around his shoulders and down his back. His skin was smooth, and it was tight over his muscles. He didn't have an ounce of body fat on him it seemed. It was just skin covering rock-hard muscle. She wanted him all the more.

His chills subsided as he focused instead on the girl beneath her. He stroked a few strands of her pink hair from her forehead and wrapped his other arm around her back. They were held together by each other. Naruto felt the more calm, and yet, more alive, than he had ever felt in his entire life.

Five years of longing for one another, five years of pent up passion and desire, five years of missing, of wanting, of needing, was forgotten that night.

That night, both of them knew, they would never forget.

_Never

* * *

_

I know it's damn short, and I'm sorry, but it will pick up the morning after their… "event" in the next chapter. There was no sex in this chapter. There was no groping or anything close to it**. Nothing sexual**, for all intensive purposes. If you want to think about them taking it up a level, that's your prerogative, not mine. For the purposes of the plot, however, Naruto and Sakura would not ask that of their lover, nor would they expect it or want it, knowing they share the same honorable respect for one another.

It's what makes it all the more cute and adorable. So yeah, there's no plot here at all. I'm sorry, but it was just a filler to keep you guys satisfied for a little while longer. (I hope it worked) I've not really attempted a scene like this before, so I'd really like to know how I did. Remember also that I'd like to know if you think it appropriate for me to have raised the bar.


	8. Sensei and Student Clash

So, we saw a little Romantic episode last time. I hope you all liked it. I've not attempted such things and themes much at all, and I fear that I am really terrible at it. I was surprised to not receive as many reviews. Don't take this surprise for disappointment, mind you. I was only surprised.

Well, I'm having a little trouble with this story. I don't think it will be much longer. I'm just trying to find out how I'm going to end it. I have some ideas that I'm attempting to piece together. Unfortunately, as good as some ideas can get, not everyone can put every idea in and get something good.

This chapter will contain a version of Naruto's and Sakura's fight with Kakashi to attain the bells after he returns in the manga. I remember bits and pieces of that battle, and will try very hard to make this original and yet classic as possible. We're going to finally see just how much our boy Uzumaki has grown.

* * *

Hours later, it was mid-morning in Naruto's apartment, and Sakura stirred, awakening to the sound of the breeze outside his window. She kept her eyes closed as she pulled herself into Naruto more, breathing in his scent. Her face was buried in his unclothed chest as she had both her arms wrapped around him like a teddy bear… A very big teddy bear. Her legs were tangled with his under thin sheets. She smiled.

"You're awake?" asked Naruto. She jerked only slightly and looked up at him. He was looking down at her with a smile plastered across his face, his blue eyes swimming with emotion. "Good morning, Sakura."

"Good morning Naruto," she replied with her own, equally brilliant smile. "How long have you been awake?"

"About thirty minutes is all," said Naruto. "I didn't want to wake you up just yet, so I let you sleep a little longer." He hugged her warmly. "But seeing as how you're awake now, I think it's time to get up."

"I have an idea," said Sakura as she put on her sandals and tidied her hair. "Why don't I make you breakfast? I can fix you some of that bacon and eggs you liked. You still like that, right?"

"I'd love it if you would," said Naruto. "Thanks." Sakura went about making the promised meal, and not long after, they were seated at the table, eating happily, just like the good old days. When they were finished…

"Naruto," said Sakura. "If you don't want to answer, it's okay, but I wanted to know what made you come back?"

"What?" asked Naruto.

"Why did you return to Konoha?" asked Sakura. "I'm not complaining, so don't take it the wrong way, and it's okay if you don't feel like answering."

Naruto put down his fork and rubbed his belly. "It was concerning Akatsuki and Orochimaru's gang," he answered. Sakura's curiosity was piqued. "They are Konoha's biggest enemies, and recently, they got into a huge battle."

"Really?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah," said Naruto. "Now, I haven't told anyone but Tsunade, so you might want to keep this quiet." Naruto looked around, as though he expected someone to be listening in on their chat. "You see, Orochimaru was pissed off when he found out Sasuke was dead."

Sakura's face fell slightly. Naruto quickly pressed on. "He eventually found out that it was Itachi and the Akatsuki that killed his chosen host. Afterwards, he spent a long time apparently planning his next move. He found a new body in the mean time, and a couple months ago, he found and assaulted the HQ of Itachi's gang."

"No way," said Sakura with a gasp.

"Yeah," said Naruto. "It was a very bloody battle. Of course, Orochimaru's group was mostly nins from Sound, but he had a lot of missing nins in his crew as well from countries all over the world. Their entire force was met with a stalemate against the Akatsuki. Both sides suffered heavy losses, and I mean heavy. I came across the battlefield a couple days after the incident with Jiraiya, and I interrogated a dying nin under Orochimaru. He told me all that I've told you."

"That's so weird," said Sakura. "I mean, what if our enemies totally destroyed each other without us having to lift a single finger?"

"It'd certainly be convenient," said Naruto. "But no one knows what either of them are planning now… It's kinda scary. I tried watching things for a while and keeping tabs on them, but I couldn't find out anything."

"So you just came back to tell Tsunade about Orochimaru and Akatsuki?" asked Sakura. Naruto realized he made it sound like he wasn't there to do anything more than business. Honestly, that was the main reason. To him, it was just a plus that he'd have been able to stop by and see his Sakura again. His mission was top priority.

"Sakura," said Naruto. "I was so glad to be able to see you and be next to you again, that it clouded my mind almost constantly while on my way here." Naruto had in a way effectively evaded a direct answer. Again, he didn't lie. All he could think about was her on his way back.

"You're leaving again," said Sakura. Naruto froze. It wasn't a question. It was a statement. It was a truth. He swallowed hard, trying hard to ignore the sizable lump in his throat. "You didn't intend to stay here in Konoha."

"No," said Naruto simply. They sat for a minute in silence.

"You said you were going to be staying, Naruto-kun," said Sakura. "You told me you didn't want to leave again."

"And that's true," said Naruto. "I _don't_ want to leave again. Believe me, Sakura, when I say I would like nothing more than to settle down here in this town for the rest of my days. I would love that luxury… but I've been cursed to live a less than easy life, and I have to deal with it in he best way I can. Itachi is still after me. I haven't met him yet, but I feel every day like he'll be just waiting for me around the corner. Every day I wake up thinking about it, knowing the time is coming closer."

"But you've been training," said Sakura. "I can see it, feel it in your chakra that you emit. You are substantially stronger than you were. You've grown so much."

"Sakura, my training, I'm afraid, is not close to enough to take on Itachi," said Naruto. "You are right, I am a changed ninja. Jiraiya has taught me much, and I've even taught myself my own tricks with lots of practice, but I am still not as strong as you make it sound.

"Sakura, I'll still be in town for another day or two," said Naruto. "Please, make my stay here happy. I don't want to think about any more sad thoughts. Let's enjoy the time we have and not worry about the future. Please?"

"Oh, alright," said Sakura. She couldn't believe what she was saying. _Of course it's not alright. I thought I had him back forever. I thought he would never leave me again, that I'd always be able to hold him, that he could always be able to hold me! This isn't fair! No it's not alright!_

"Greetings!" said the voice of Hataki Kakashi from his window. Sakura jumped at his sudden appearance. Naruto, however, had sensed his presence seconds before he arrived. His teleportation technique was detected by Naruto before he'd even arrved.

Kakashi didn't let on, but he knew immediately that Naruto was well aware of him being on his way before he even arrived. _I knew he was stronger._

"What's up Kakashi?" asked Naruto with a smile. Kakashi smiled through his mask. _His benevolence doesn't seem to have changed though… I somehow sense much angst in him though. Something troubles him greatly._

"I was wondering if you, and maybe even Sakura, would be interested in a little bit of a friendly exhibition," said Kakashi. "You know, for old time's sake, both of you against me."

"Really!" exclaimed Naruto, jumping from his chair excitedly. "Hell yes!"

"I'm glad to see you're still as excitable as ever," said Kakashi with a laugh. "Sakura?"

"Sure," she said, putting on a fake smile. "I'll tag along. I'm afraid I may be out of your league though. You two would overpower me."

"Come on Sakura-chan!" said Naruto, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her toward the window. "We'll follow you Kakashi!" Kakashi descended from the window with a leap, and Naruto followed him right off the ledge and into the street. Halfway through the jump, he curled Sakura toward him and maneuvered her into his arms, landing gently below with athletic agility she'd never seen.

He set her down as he noticed Kakashi had already taken flight. _I see. H's already testing my ability. My ability to follow effectively._ He was already several houses away, leaping rooftops with ease. "Sakura, how fast are you? Can you keep up?"

"With Kakashi!" asked Sakura. "Are you crazy?"

He scooped her into his arms again and took off into the street. His running pace was fast, very fast, especially for someone hindered by additional weight. Gaining speed, he caught up with Kakashi, still on the rooftops, and he jumped up to follow on his own turf. Kakashi glanced back and noticed the youngster was effortlessly keeping pace with him while simultaneously carrying Sakura in his arms.

Kakashi zigged and zagged along the rooftops, but Naruto was constantly on him, never a step behind. He couldn't loose the kid. He was already using chakra to run faster than he normally spared for running, but it looked like Naruto wasn't breaking a sweat in the least. He decided it better to end the chase now before he exhausted himself.

Landing on top of a large, flat-roofed building, Kakashi turned to see Naruto already standing behind him, setting Sakura down gracefully. She looked a little exhausted herself. Naruto just smiled victoriously. Kakashi realized that Naruto was a lot stronger than he used to be, and the boy knew it. Kakashi also realized that the kid knew he had just beaten him hands down in a chase. Granted, Kakashi wasn't trying too hard, but neither was Naruto.

"Well done Naruto," said Kakashi, regaining his composure. "You are very fast. You've trained well. Our exhibition will have to be held in the forest. I fear if we were to go at it here, the damage would be catastrophic, wouldn't it?"

"It would indeed," said Naruto, grinning. "_I'll _lead… Try to keep up, sensei"

Naruto disappeared, and Kakashi had to do a double take, straining himself to follow his trajectory. _Shit he's fast… Too fast._ Kakashi also realized that Sakura was gone too. _He picked her up and _then_ took off! My God, he's completely different!_

Kakashi caught up with Naruto, straining and pushing himself harder and harder to keep up. He ran alongside the blonde boy, who was watching with a grin on his face still. Was he still playing? Kakashi hoped not, but at the same time, was very proud.

Naruto beat Kakashi to the woods by only a couple feet, about half a second altogether. They skidded to a halt and faced each other. Naruto again gracefully grounded the girl in his arms, whose hair was all over her face. She tried to brush it out of her eyes. "Naruto, you messed up my hair!" she said angrily.

"Gomen, Sakura," he said sheepishly. "You still look beautiful. Don't worry." Sakura instantly forgave him and gave him a peck on the cheek, thanking him for his compliment. Kakashi smiled to himself at his former students' affection for each other, but was at the same time saddened to know that Naruto would no doubt be leaving again. It was a shame, but Kakashi understood completely what he had to do.

"Let's begin," said Kakashi. He held up two bells and tied them to the belt of his flak jacket. "You remember the game. Retrieve the bells with intent to kill me in every strike. Of course, I'm in no position to punish you two for failure, but I'll reward you by buying dinner if you can snatch them from me.

"Ichiruka Ramen, here I come," said Naruto, posing for an attack, grinning. "Kakashi, you will be buying me a nice, steaming bowl of Ramen before the night is over… And my victory will be decided in five minutes or less." ( I do hope that I spelled the Ramen Bar's name right. I probably didn't. Since I'll be needing it in the next chapter, it'd be nice to get a review with the correct full name. Anyone who submits the review will have their most recent story read, reveiwed, and then advertised on my next chapter's author notes.This means I have to have the link to your profile page with the review Thanks.)

_Such confidence!_ Thought Kakashi. _Who does he think he is? Does he think he's that strong? I can't be sure about him, but I don't think Naruto's self confidence is misplaced… I better watch myself. Perhaps telling him to try and kill me wasn't a smooth idea._

"Just come and fight me," said Kakashi, taking his battle stance. "You have five minutes. That's your gamble. If it's not won in five minutes, no Ramen. If I beat you in five minutes… you buy _me _Ramen."

"Deal!" shouted Naruto. Kakashi was thrown off by the boy's confidence still. He wasn't in the least bit phased by Kakashi's return gamble. In fact, it seemed to fuel Naruto even more, assuring him a sure victory. _This could get very ugly._

"We won't play around then," said Kakashi, moving his hand up to the headband around his forehead. He lifted it ceremonially from his left eye to expose the swirling Sharingan eye. It was blood red. Naruto smirked confidently again. This was going to be fun. He knew it.

Tsunade sat in her office, massaging her temples to try and alleviate some stress. Sure, they were I mostly peaceful times, but being Hokage was still very trying, and the recent news about Akatsukin and Orochimaru from none other than Naruto was troubling. She got out a crystal globe and peered into it. _Where is that blonde abomination of insanity?_

His image appeared to her in the ball. He was crouched, prepared to attack Kakashi, Sakura nearby. _A friendly skirmish? No doubt this could be interesting._ She stood up and jogged out of the office, opening the door and closing it loudly. The anbu and her secretary gave her a troubled look before asking what in the fourth's name had driven her to just leave.

"Naruto and Kakashi are clashing!" she called over her shoulder, starting to run. "it's bound to be a good match up." The two Anbu exchanged a glance at each other. A silent agreement was made. _There's no point in guarding the Hokage's office now. Why bother? Perhaps a little trip to the woods to see the fight would provide a break from the monotony._

They ran away down the hall, leaving the stunned desk secretary in their wake. "Wait for me!"

Naruto made the first charge at Kakashi, and he leapt with a primal roar into the air. Kakashi waited for him to descend. Naruto's flying kick landed on the crossed arms of Kakashi, causing him to skid backwards on his toes. As Naruto recoiled backwards though the air, he tossed two kunai as quick as lightning.

Kakashi looked up from behind his defensively placed arms to see the kunai practically right on him. He turned his body 90 degrees as they soared past him. They would've struck his shoulders, not direct attacks. This sent off alarms in his head. Naruto had wanted his to turn exactly like he did, which meant he was already preparing something.

It was a basic distraction technique. Make your opponent focus on a thrown weapon while you make your charge from the side. Kakashi turned around as fast as he could to see Naruto running at him with a kunai in each hand… All _six_ hands.

Naruto wasn't one. He was three. It dawned on Kakashi a little too late. Kakashi had been forced to look away for a period of time just long enough for Naruto to make the hand seals for the Kage Bunshin. He didn't see Naruto's trademark attack coming at him. They were just there, all three of them, their sharpened blades prepared.

Of course, the Sharingan was a huge helper. He saw where all three of the attacks would be placed a split second before they even happened. With amazing agility and flexibility, he arched backwards to avoid the horizontal lunge of the first clone. (Or was that the real Naruto?)

Bending up again, he jumped over a slide tackle attempt by the second. Again, Kakashi realized this was bad. Naruto had forced him to jump, and dodging in mid air was very difficult against a skilled ninja. There was still one Naruto left, and hiskunai drove up towards the copy ninja's chest.

Kakashi pulled himself into a roundhouse kick to smash the weapon out of Naruto's hand. Naruto himself hadn't been hit. All three were still there, now surrounding him, and he didn't know which one was Naruto or a clone.

_This is where it would be nice to have a Byakkugan for a right eye,_ thought Kakashi amusedly. His reasoning, of course, was that the Hyuuga clan's bloodline eye had the ability to see chakra flows, and thus detect clones made of chakra, like a Kage Bunshin.

Tsunade and two following Anbu, of course, attracted the stares of many people in Konoha, especially other Anbu, who were always the most perceptive of nins. "What's going on?" asked a ninja to one of the trailing Anbu.

"Kakashi and Naruto are having a small fight. We're going to watch."

"_Uzumaki?" _asked the ninja. _"He's back?"_ This ninja was Naruto's first instructor, Iruka. He stopped and watched them run off, tears welling up in his eyes. His favorite student was home. For what reason, he knew not. He had to see him. First, however, he took off into the village to find some people.

Naruto was little stunned when Kakashi took the initiative of attacking first. He targeted one of the Naruto's without any weapons. As soon as Kakashi moved, the other two closed in from behind with great speed. He had one shot at taking out the first clone before the other two were there.

He raised a fist to strike, and he saw where the Naruto was going to defend, courtesy the Sharingan. He drove his foot into the open spot under his chest. The clone exploded into smoke as he turned around and armed two kunai with blinding speed. Using each hand, he parried the kunai of his two opponents, and then he pushed them backwards, summoning the chakra into his arms for his bidding.

The clones skidded backwards and stood next to each other. Kakashi briefly wondered why they had stopped. An alarm went off in his head when they each started making hand seals he'd never seen before. They were fast… very fast. The making of the seals was perfect, passing in a blur. The series, he imagined, would've taken himself a fell two seconds to make. He noted that Naruto had finished them in just a little over one second.

"Chakra Release: Barrier no Jutsu!" they shouted simultaneously. Kakashi's swirling Sharingan went to work on the new jutsu technique he'd just witnessed. For a second, nothing chakra-related happened. However, this was just a slight delay. A transparent blue dome had sprang up, fifty feet in diameter, with Naruto as its center. This left Kakashi just a few feet from the edge. He looked around at the marvelous work or jutsu. He knew immediately that this barrier kept them in, while keeping anything else alive out. They were alone… All three of them.

"It is a technique that requires two people to activate in absolute symmetry," said the pair of Narutos together. "Which make it almost impossible to two individual beings." Kakashi was deeply impressed.

"Made entirely of chakra," said Kakashi, looking at the blue, wavy barrier. "Very nice."

"No stalling," said the two Narutos. "My dinner is on the line. I've got four minutes and ten seconds left."

(Yes, all that happened in lest than fifty seconds)

Unfortunately for Kakashi, both the Naruto clones disappeared into smoke. His eyes widened. Very seldom was the ninja shocked at anything. All three of them he had been fighting were clones. He knew Naruto was done this more than once, giving the impression that one of the people fighting was real, when all were in fact Bunshins.

But there was nothing else sealed in the barrier. If the real Naruto was outside, then he couldn't get in. Kakashi turned around, looking. They were in a clearing. There were no trees in the dome which could be used to hide in. Not even a rock laid nearby.

_Perhaps a Genjutsu? But Naruto's not an illusion jutsu ninja. Granted, he's got all kinds of strange quirks, but I've never seen any illusion techniques from him._

Kakashi realized it wasn't an illusion. For one thing, the Sharingan made it significantly easier to avoid being fooled by Genjutsus when put up against a foe without a Sharingan of his or her own. For second, he didn't have time to contemplate the Sharingan's usefulness, for a hand shot out of the ground and grabbed his ankle.

Naruto was under the earth. _Amazing._ A second hand reached up and grabbed his other ankle. He was completely rooted to the ground, and Naruto was using some good chakra to enforce his trap. Out of the ground behind him burst Naruto…

But his hands were still holding him to the ground, so how could Naruto be up here still? More Kage Bunshins were in this fight than Kakashi had been under the impression. Kakashi had to summon a lot of chakra to his legs to jump out of the trap. Naruto's hand barely missed the bell tied to his belt.

Kakashi went soaring up and flipped so his feet landed on the roof of the barrier. He kicked off of it to the ground, soaring like a rocket as he charged in his left hand a sparking ball of blue lightning. It was roaring with power now. Of course, Naruto recognized it as the Chidori. The power was tremendous.

Kakashi struck not the space where the standing Naruto was, but instead targeted the center of the dome in the ground. His clawed hand hit with tremendous force, causing the soil to glow blue for half a second before it all exploded in a flash of blue light.

The chakra blast exploded the barrier. It was either that, or Naruto had brought down the barrier. When the dust dissipated, a clearly scratched and torn Naruto stood nearby. He'd been touched by the blast radius of the attack. "Of course, the barrier only remains standing if the two conjurors of it are in tact. That means there is no longer more than one of me."

The ground they had been on was a crater. "You weren't aiming for me. You just wanted all Bunshins gone. Good move."

"Got any new techniques you can show me?" asked Kakashi.

"This one's kinda unoriginal, but I think you'll like it," said Naruto. He powered a couple of simple hand seals. Kakashi knew all too well it was another Kage Bunshin technique. Ten Naruto's appeared in a row, grinning wildly. "Ready or not…"

Kakashi dropped into a fighting stance. The ten Narutos also took their fighting stance.

"HERE WE COME!"

* * *

This, of course, is my rendition of how the old test goes for Naruto and Kakashi. It's a bit more extreme, obviously, than the manga edition of it, but I'm trying to original. Oh, and these techniques will be used again in the future, like the Barrier no Jutsu. I'm sorry about the crappy names for the attacks to come, but I'm not fluent in Japanese(yet), and can only hand out when the English would be. There is more of this fight to come obviously.

Oh, and by the way, we will be seeing Orochimaru and Itachi soon. Probably very soon, like in the next chapter.

And on a final note, if anyone's searching for free downloads of all the Naruto mangas, head to It's a great website that requires only that you sign up with a username. They don't ask for money, and they don't send annoying emails either. All you do is register for a name and password, and you're in for all the free naruto music and manga you want. And if you pay them for a special membership, you can even download the anime eps as they're released in japan. Man, I wish I had money to spare.


	9. HERE WE COME

I am VERY sorry for being a pain in the ass. I have actually been trying to get this onto the site, but something kept me from logging in every time I tried. In fact, I went around to a lot of your stories, faithful reviewers, and it wouldn't even let me review anything. Sorry. I've had thischapter done for a week now. Anyways, here it is. There isn't much in here, so you've waited for just about nuthin'.

* * *

"_Ready or not-HERE WE COME!"_

The ten Narutos made their quick assault on Kakashi. Sure he had his Sharingan eye, but he knew he was hopeless if forced to just sit there and wait. He jumped straight up as he threw two kunai as fast as he could. Both struck fatally, and two Doppelgangers disappeared into smoke.

_Eight left,_ he thought. Landing on a tree branch above, he jumped right back down at another set of clones. He swiped with a kunai in one hand while karate chopping with the other. He took down another two clones effortlessly as they jumped at him, again only blowing up into smoke remains.

One tackled him from behind, but a well placed roll and spin maneuver had him favoring the grapple, and he drove the kunai into the clone's chest. A total of five Narutos were dead.

He stood straight hen he realized something was obviously the matter. Naruto was tougher than this, a lot. He shouldn't have wasted five clones in only a few quick seconds. No, something was being planned, if it already hadn't been, in Naruto's little mind.

Chakra started surging like electricity in the air surrounding him. A lot of energy was being used for something, and it was very powerful, powerful enough that it was charging the atmosphere with destructive chakra. He searched for the source. Of course, what he saw was very disturbing and troubling.

You try staring five Resengan attacks down and feeling safe.

That was Kakashi's dilemma. From all sides, a Naruto was hurling at him with unmatched speed, unavoidable speed. Each Naruto had that primal look on his face, with the whiskers extended, the eyes wide and slatted, the claws bared, and a big, swirling, red ball of chakra in one hand.

These five balls of chakra had him marked, and he didn't even have time for the most basic of teleportation techniques. Kakashi, as one might say, was up a creek, and he hadn't a paddle.

"Multi Resengan!" he screamed. Kakashi did the only thing he could. He ducked and pulled his arms over his head. The balls of chakra all were there in an instant. He had his eyes closed. He was done for. He couldn't believe the power. He didn't actually think that Naruto could kill him. He had held back. He shouldn't have held back against the blonde.

For seconds he waited for the explosion, but none came. There was no roaring boom, or shock wave that shook the earth and caused the most destruction one could fathom. Nothing happened. He heard a slight jingle nearby.

Looking up, he saw Naruto, obviously pleased with himself, holding a bell attached to a string between his fingers. He waved it in front of his former sensei's face. "Gotcha Kakashi," he said.

"Naruto-

"You didn't think I would kill you," said Naruto. "Come on. Have some faith in my integrity Kakashi!"

Kakashi stood up straight to face his former student. "Wow, Naruto. That was impressive. I have to hand it to you. You've grown more than I could've ever imagined."

There was a low rumbling that sounded as though in the distance, but it wasn't really far away. The noise became louder and louder, and it sounded like clapping, like _lots_ of clapping at that. People were applauding. Looking around, Naruto saw almost the entire village of shinobi standing nearby, smiling, cheering, shouting and clapping in applause.

It was an amazing site to behold. "Way to go Naruto!" shouted Ino.

"That totally rocked man!" cheered Kiba.

"Alright Naruto!" shouted another. More were cheering his name, screaming their praises. Naruto couldn't help himself. He was overwhelmed with emotion. The tears welled up behind his eyes, and he couldn't hold them back. He _wouldn't_ hold them back. All of his friends were here, all of the people he grew up with and loved were there again to see him.

He waved as their cheering died.

"Well, now we just have to see how Sakura does against me," said Kakashi. He felt a tug at his waist and whirled around. It was too late though. Sakura had jumped backwards just out of reach, and in her hand was a tiny bell on a string.

"What!" yelled Kakashi.

"You lost your focus, Kakshi," said Sakura with a smile and a wink. "That's very unshinobi-like of you. Ninja should never take their mind off of their mission. Come on, it's basic ninja law."

"You got me, Sakura," said Kakashi with a sigh. He noted that he probably could've taken the girl on and won, but he was dead tired and exhausted from his fight with Naruto. Almost all of his chakra had been depleted.

Naruto's former classmates ran up to him to talk with him and praise him. It had been five years since he really had seen them, with the exception of Ino of course, who he'd seen just when he went looking for Sakura.

"Naruto!" yelled Rock Lee. "We must fight! I promised you a fight to test your strength when you returned!"

"No thanks, Thick Brows," said Naruto, scratching the back of his head. "I'm a little worn out from my practice with Kakashi. Some other time, okay?"

"Deal," said Lee enthusiastically.

"It' so good to see you're okay, Naruto," said Iruka in front of him. They were of equal height now, and it was really weird for them to no have to look up or down at each other. "You've grown so much. I can't believe that's really you."

"It's really me," said Naruto, grinning from ear to ear. "What about you? Did _you_ get any stronger?"

"I've… been teaching at the academy still," said Iruka sheepishly. "Not much time for training."

"Come on Naruto," said Sakura, grabbing the boy by the arm and tugging him away from the crowd. "Kakashi owes us a meal. We can't let him get away."

"Oh my gosh, you're right!" said Naruto. "Kakashi! Hey Kakashi!"

The silver haired jounin of course heard the boy's yells, and he turned around to face the child who had defeated him. "Yes, Naruto?" he asked. "What is it?" To be perfectly honest, he was pretty sure he knew exactly what it was that the boy was about to bring up.

"Ramen at Ichiraku," said Naruto enthusiastically. "You owe me and Sakura. Let's go. I'm hungry and cannot wait."

Sigh "Okay Naruto, follow me."

Ho, boy. What a completely useless chapter I've given you all. I am very sorry of course. I haven't been typing all weekend because I was traveling. Had to go to Knoxville, TN, and the computer access was nil. So I just put this together and it sucks. Sorry.

**Krn-Kimbap**: Thanks for the relentless onslaught of reviews recently. Also, thanks for the help with the name of the ramen bar. I've been reading your story, and it's coming along really neat. I couln't review the last two chapters, because the thing kept telling me it was overloaded no matter how hard I tried. But it is seriously cool.

**HitokiriJotham**: Thanks also to you for the name of the Ramen Bar. Of course, I got multiple tips to the name of the place, so I'm thanking them all. I would've read a story by you, but you apparently have no user name or just weren't logged in when submitting.

**Hououza:** You, also, gave me the name of the Ramen Bar. Again, I thanketh thee. I read your Cherry Blossoms poem and the Never Too Late story. Both are superb and awesome. Thanks.

**Dragon'sSword:** I read about your Bittorent help, and I thank you very much for it. Unfortunately, I am still having trouble understanding it. I went to narutofan's page for bittorents and they said something about not being able to use bittorent anymore. Any more help would be appreciated. Thanks anyway.

My recommendations for good reading at the moment are!

**Watching the Cherry Blossoms Fall, by Hououza**. This is a very cute poem focusing on NaruSaku relationship. Read it, and I promise you'll enjoy it.

**Never Too Late, by Houza**. This was another great work by Hououza, starting with Naruto finally beating and killing Sasuke, and ending with the realization that it is never too late to express your feelings to the one you love.

**Life With Another Demon, by Krn-Kimbap**. She has started on an excellent story that's still in the works, about a new ninja named Izumi coming to Konoha. Naruto becomes a very affectionate older brother to her, while she makes friends with Sakura, Kiba, Hinata, and others, even Sasuke, though Sasuke seems to have evil motives. Izumi is hiding a secret though, a secret that's hinted at being much like Naruto's dark secret. (Read the title)


	10. Prepared To Die

Frankly, I'm a bit too lazy to do any shoutouts tonight, and I'm dead tired. Sleep deprivation has a way of doing that to a man. I'm sorry, but you're getting a half-baked chapter again. It should contain a huge shocker or two though. Some things I took some liberties on, while others are direct from the manga series. Veterans will know what I mean.

* * *

That night, Naruto played host to an unexpected guest in his apartment. Gara of the sand had shown up after all the celebrating and reunions.

"Gaara, what the hell are you doing here?" asked Naruto, opening his door wide for the leader of Sunakagure. "This is definitely unexpected. Come in."

Naruto was alone in his home, having been alone for just over an hour. When he heard a knock on his door, he was actually expecting it to be Sakura. It was getting late now though, and she was probably at home with her family.

"Thanks, Naruto," said the ever calm Sand-nin, striding in and surveying his surroundings. It was a dump to say the least He preferred everything to be neat. This blonde, on the other hand, didn't share his tidiness. Whatever. To each his own.

"What brings you here, Gaara?" asked Naruto. "Is something the matter?"

"I need to talk with you about some things," said Gaara calmly and carefully. "You are not the only one who's been monitoring Akatsuki. I know about what happened between their crew and Orochimaru, so there's no need to explain. Listen, Akatsuki's target isn't just the demon in _you._"

"Don't tell me they're after Shukakku as well," said Naruto in has traditional whine. Gaara nodded. "Dammit… Have you run into any trouble lately?"

"None at all," said Gaara. "I actually have yet to encounter any members of the Akaktsuki directly… I've just been having spies keep tab for me."

"So what are you going to do?" asked Naruto. "I mean, it's not like you can go into hiding."

"No, I can't," said Gaara. "If they come to fight me, I'll fight them directly. You should be prepared to fight as well, Naruto. There's more I've discovered that concerns the both of us as well."

"Oh?" asked Naruto. "Go on."

"Though I have a feeling you may already have a faint idea as to what I have to say," added Gaara. "It's about the demons in us."

"We're dying," said Naruto. Gaara closed his eyes and smiled.

"Bingo," he replied.

"Yeah, I have been feeling it recently," said Naruto. "The Kyuubi… It _is_ killing me."

"Yes," said Gaara. "At the same time, I am dying because of the Shukkaku. There's only so long that a human body can withstand all that demonic strength."

"I understand," said Naruto. "How'd you find all this out though?"

"Did some research," said Gaara. "There have been a total of three Jinchuuriki in possession of theShukkaku. They all died by the time they were fifteen."

"Gaara, we're older than that by a few years," said Naruto.

"I know," said Gaara. Such a fact was obvious. "The next time we are forced to use our demonic selves, that is to say that, the moment you use Kyuubi to boost your strength, you will have sealed your fate. The same goes for me and Shukkaku."

"Bummer," said Naruto, looking down. "So that's it. We're done for."

"There's no way to reverse it either," said Gaara. "The demon can be pulled out and sealed in another container, or basically in another human child, but it will kill the original Jinchuuriki."

"I wouldn't pull the Kyuubi from me even if it _could_ save my life," said Naruto. "So what do we do about this?"

"It's very hard to say, Naruto," said Gaara. "There I a major battle approaching. I am sure of it. Akatsuki has few elite members left, but they are still strong. This next battle, should any of us be forced to engage in it, will undoubtedly be our last. It's only a matter of when this battle occurs."

"I see," said Naruto. "Itachi, whenver he strikes, will have the advantage against us should we be divided… but-

"If the both of us fight together with our demon life-forms, we would stand a chance," said Gaara. He smiled. Naruto returned the gesture. "This was another reason for my coming here. With this information about the Bijuu in the both of us, I figured we should take the initiative."

"You mean attack Akatsuki, as opposed for waiting for the inevitable?" asked Naruto. Gaara silently nodded. "It's a good idea."

"You can't tell anyone, Naruto," said Gaara, glancing around. "This is a top secret deal. Not even Tsunade knows I'm in town, so I could technically be in a lot of trouble should I be found. It wouldn't be a problem getting away, but it'd ruin foreign relations."

"Right," said Naruto with a smile. "Hey, while snooping about and looking up stuff, you didn't find anything about Orochimaru, did you?"

"He attacked the village once a few weeks ago," said Gaara. This news came as a great shock.

"What!" asked Naruto. "I didn't hear anything about that!"

"That's because I kept the whole thing a secret," said Gaara. "Nobody outside of Suna except you knows about it. That's because I didn't want you rushing out to Sunakagure, as I know you would've."

"You're damn right I would've," said Naruto. "I could've helped."

"Listen, we pulled through just fine," said Gaara. "There were surprisingly few casualties. It was an attack out of desperation for him, because he's running out of time to find a new body, or rather, the body he _wants._"

"Who's that?" asked Naruto.

"You," said Gaara. "He's been looking all over for you. You have a young body, and sealed within you is the most powerful Bijuu of all the tailed-demons, Kyuubi. He wants that power to compliment his own. His second choice was me, because of the Shukkaku. That's why he attacked Sunakgure. He wanted me in captivity, should he not be able to find you in time."

"Does he know I'm in Konoha?"

"Maybe," said Gaara. "I don't know. He very well may. He's been devoting a lot of time to finding your ass, and every day he grows angrier… But he is not the topic or main focus of our concern. We need to be worried about Akatsuki and the demons."

"I understand your meaning," said Naruto. He sighed heavily. "Well, if I have to prematurely depart this world, I might as well take something out with me, eh?"

"That's the spirit," appraised Gaara.

End Chapter Ten

Oh shock and horror! They're gonna die! Maybe they are, or maybe not! There could be a cure that no one knows about yet… Expect some intense action in the near future though. Lots of drama, angst, and romancy stuff coming up.

In the manga, as far as I know, it isn't mentioned that the demon in Naruto will kill him eventually. I may have missed it somewhere, but I think that's my little fabrication right in this story. I don't want anyone thinking that Naruto will die someday, or Gaara will die someday, because of the Bijuu in them. Some facts in this chapter were pulled from the most recent two chapters of manga though. For the whole scoop, if yo've not got my messages yet, head to Great place.

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, Jinchuuriki, as I believe it's spelled, is the term used for a person who is an active container for a tailed-demon. Naruto and Gaara are both Jinshuuriki.

Also, the term Bijuu is used to refer to one of the nine demons identified by their tails, or "tailed-demon". Shukkaku is the one-tailed, I think. Kyuubi is the nine-tailed, I know.


	11. I'm dying, Sakura

Gaara had left, choosing to not stay in Konohakagure too long, as he might be discovered. In fact, the only people in Sunakagure who knew he was missing were his two siblings of the Sand, Temari and Kankorou. He told Naruto that he would be staying just outside of Hidden-leaf's borders, waiting for his arrival.

"Meet me in two days," he told Naruto before he left. "I will be waiting for you. Forty-eight hours should give you enough time to tie up any… loose ends you have in this town."

"Okay," said Naruto. "Take care until then." He didn't know if Gaara heard him or not, because he had already begun walking away, and didn't acknowledge his words. Naruto closed his door silently and walked back to his window to look out at the star-lit town he loved.

He did love it. A lot.

Everything he knew and loved was here. He had friends, some so close that they could be considered family… Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, all his Academy class-mates… Sakura-chan.

Naruto sighed as he rested his chin on his hands over the window sill. What would he do? He couldn't just tell her, or anyone for that matter. But Sakura deserved to know. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. This is going to hurt you a lot. I know it will."

He had actually had a bed feeling that this was happening, that he was dying as a result of the Kyuubi being in him. He hated it. The stupid demon fox wasn't something he asked for. He was only a baby…

"Why was _I_ chosen?" he yelled at the city, getting no reply. "What did _I_ do to deserve it? I don't want this stupid thing in me anymore!" Tears started to flow from his eyes as he silently cried.

"I'm not even sad that I'm going to die, am I?" he asked himself. "I'm going to hurt a lot of people. I can't even tell them why… This is so pathetic. _I _am so pathetic."

He stayed up all night watching the city. He wouldn't get many much more of a chance to look at his beloved home after this night.

Sakura knocked on his door in the late morning. Naruto hadn't moved form his position all night, so it was a bit difficult to walk for the first few steps. "Coming," he said when the knocking came again. He opened the door to see the beaming, smiling face of Sakura, his pink-haired love.

"Hey Naruto," she said happily as the blonde boy came into view. She looked at his face. "Naruto-kun, you look like hell. What's the matter?"

"Uh, nothing," he said a little too quickly. He turned around and walked back into his apartment, an invitation for Sakura to follow him in. He heard her shut the door as she entered. "So what's up?"

"I just came by for a visit," she said. "I was wondering if you wanted to walk around with me again today, you know, before you had to leave again." Naruto looked down sadly and sighed.

"Yeah, sure," he said quietly. He would love to spend time with her; honestly he would have any time, any time but now. It would be so depressing. Tomorrow night he had to leave, leave for good. There would never be a homecoming for him. Just being around her would be a constant reminder of how much pain she would be in when she found out he was dead.

"Naruto, what is wrong with you?" asked Sakura sternly, placing her hands on her hips. "You look like you didn't sleep last night."

"I didn't," said Naruto, laughing weakly a couple times. He turned to face her with the best smile he could muster. Sakura noticed that Naruto had just failed to give his patented, signature smile.

She walked up to him and took his hands in her own. "Naruto, something's wrong. You can't cover it up. You can tell me." Naruto looked down into her green eyes, filled with concern. He sighed.

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan, but I can't tell even you," he said weakly. He pulled away and walked towards the door. "Come on. Let's get some fresh air. I could use a walk."

He left the bewildered girl in the apartment alone for several seconds. She couldn't help but feel that the nin she loved was in a great deal of mental pain at the moment, and being unable to soften his pain made her feel so helpless. She quickly ran to catch up with him outside.

"So where do you want to go?" asked Naruto, waiting for the girl to catch up.

"I don't know," said Sakura, holding onto Naruto's arm lightly. "Any ideas?"

"Hey Naruto! What about that fight!" yelled an all-too familiarly annoying voice. Rock Lee jogged up to him and Sakura, breathing heavily.

"Hey Lee," said Naruto. "Can't fight now. I'm spending time with Sakura."

"I know," said Lee, giving his nice guy smile and wink. "We'll fight some other time."

"You look tired," said Sakura.

"I've been training all morning," he said matter of factly. "I wake up at four every morning to start my training. I'm taking a break for right now for an early lunch. Then, it's back to training."

"Wow," said Naruto. "If you've been following a schedule like that, I'm afraid I might lose to you when we fight."

"You can bet on it," said Lee confidently. "See you guys around!" He ran off down the streets.

"Does anyone else know I'm leaving again?" asked Naruto to Sakura.

"Kakashi and I, plus Tsunade of course, know about it," answered Sakura. "I haven't told anyone, and I don't think anyone else has."

"That's good," said Naruto with a sigh.

"Please, Naruto, tell me what's beating you up," pleaded the girl. "I've not seen you this upset before. You can tell me you know."

Naruto stopped walking and sighed again, a seemingly repetitive task for the day. She would find out later anyway, right? He'd been thinking about it for a few minutes. She _did_ deserve to know.

"Sakura, we need to sit down somewhere," he said quietly. He lead her to the other side of the street, where a park bench was conveniently placed, isolated from the crowds on the street. He sat down, and Sakura took a seat next to him, holding his hand.

"Sakura, I don't know how I'm supposed to say this," began Naruto.

"Just say it, Naruto," she said, annoyed.

"I won't be coming back to Konoha when I leave tomorrow," he told her. "I will never be able to return."

"You said you'd try," said Sakura. "I'll just wait for you. I trust you Naruto, and I know you'll do your best to come back, and I'll be waiting for you."

"No, Sakura," said Naruto. "You don't understand… _Never_. I will _never_ be back, because it's impossible for me."

"What do you mean, Naruto?" asked Sakura. "I don't think I get it."

"I'm dying, Sakura," said Naruto a little harshly. She hiccupped at his outbreak.

"What?"

"I'm going to die," confirmed Naruto. "It's the Kyuubi, the demon-fox that's sealed inside me is killing me, and my days here are numbered. I should actually be dead, compared to the life spans of others like me who've had a demon sealed in them, but those people almost constantly used their power…"

"When are you going to die?" asked Sakura, beginning to cry.

"The next time I fight," said Naruto. "The next time I'm forced to tap into Kyuubi's power, I will be completely consumed, and I will die right after." Sakura's eyes were misted over, and the tears started to fall down her cheeks.

"I've not told anyone else," said Naruto. "Gaara knows though. He visited me last night. He's going to suffer the same fate as I am, as he's being killed by the Shukkaku demon. We came to decision."

"A decision?" asked Naruto. "What are you talking about?"

"If Gaara and I just try to avoid fighting for the rest of our lives, Itachi and Orochimaru will search for us, and they will undoubtedly kill a lot of people until they find us. And when we are found, we don't stand a chance… alone.

"But if Gaara and I take the initiative and attack together, we can take at least Itachi down with us, along with most of Akatsuki as well. We'll both fight with the help of our demons and we'll accomplish something before we die. Gaara said he managed to actually managed to uncover the secret lair of Akatsuki."

"So you're just going to go commit suicide?" sobbed Sakura. "You're just going to leave and go off to your death?"

"Yeah," said Naruto quietly. "If I'm going to die, then dammit, something good is going come of it. I'm not going to just let the Kyuubi take me without a fight."

"Can't you just have it removed?" asked Sakura. "Can't it be unsealed?"

"No, it can't," said Naruto. "Well, it _can_, but it will kill me anyway, and I'd have to seal it in another child. I'll be damned if another kid is going to suffer the way I did, only to find out that they're going to die. The whole purpose of sealing a Bijuu in a kid is for it to grow up and become a weapon to fight for the country it lives in. I got it for a better reason I admit… The purpose of my sacrifice was the salvation of the rest of the village. Gaara has had to live with knowing that his purpose of existence was to just be a tool, a weapon."

"That's terrible," said Sakura.

"Tell me about it," said Naruto. "So that's what's wrong. I have to leave town tomorrow night with Gaara, who's waiting at our country's border north of here, and head off to my own death.

"And that's not even what's pissing me off," said Naruto, growing angrier. "What's got me upset is what I'll be causing. Sure, I'm going to miss everything here, and I'm going to miss you most of all, but I'm going to hurt a lot of people when I die. I'm going to be leaving you all alone. I can't stand that."

"Naruto…" said Sakura. "I don't want you to die."

"I have to, Sakura-chan," said Naruto. "It's written in my destiny. I will die, and there's nothing I can do to stop it. All I can do is hope that I can accomplish some good before I go down."

End

Sad? Maybe a little. This is another kinda sappy crappy chapter. We'll get some fighting in here eventually, but keep in mind that's not the main focus of this story.


	12. Goodbye Konoha

Hiya faithful readers! This story is drawing to a close, and there will be no room for a sequel to tell the truth. I'd estimate that there are approzimately anywhere from three to five chapters remaining, with three being the absolute minimum. Don't worry, I will no stop writing awesome Naruto stuff when I'm done. To be honest, I've got another story I'm orking one at the moment, a Gundam Wing one at that.

* * *

Naruto had his little belongings packed and ready to go. He didn't need much really, so he had a small backpack. He just needed some light provisions for the trip to wherever Gaara would be leading him…

There would be no return trip for him and his friend from the Sand.

It was nightfall, and the sun had only just completed its setting. Night was just fine for Naruto. It would help him get out without anyone stopping him to say hello or talk with him or anything like that. He didn't want to have to deal with any of his friends on the way out of town, as it would be far too awkward for him.

He zipped up his pack and left his apartment with a heavy sigh. This was his home, and he would be leaving it. Most everything was still in its messy state, as he didn't feel the need to clean any of it anymore. While packing up to leave, he wrote a letter and left it in his apartment where someone would find it.

It was his will.

Writing your will was actually a funny concept to Naruto. He sat writing everything down that he could think of. What made it even more amusing was that he didn't really have much to give away. Just a bunch of junk really. He wrote that Haruno Sakura had first dibs to pick whatever she wanted before anything was taken.

After that, everything was for the most part to be donated or sold for the benefit of Konoha. He had a few pictures of people, like a picture of his team, and a picture of himself and Iruka together at the Ramen bar. Such pictures were willed to whoever was in the pictures besides himself. His old goggles he willed to Konohamaru, the little punk that practically idolized him.

His membership card to the Ichiraku Ramen bar, which gave him benefits every now and then after buying a certain amount of Ramen, he also willed to Iruka. He wasn't sure if Iruka loved Ramen as much as he did, but he was glad that his teacher was always willing to share a few moments with him anyway.

The apartment was the hardest thing to come to a decision about. He figured he could have it auctioned if Sakura didn't want it, so he wrote in his will that he wanted Sakura to decide its fate.

Sakura.

Their last night together was a scary one, though it was equally happy. Sakura asked him the day that he'd told her of his fate if she could spend one last night with him before he left. He obliged, and they went back to his apartment that night to be alone.

Naruto felt that he wanted to take the occurrences of that night with him to the grave. No one would know, except him and Sakura. He knew it was considered wrong for people as young as he and Sakura to have a sexual relationship… but neither he nor Sakura really cared. It was a night he would take with him to his death as the best night of his life. It was the night that they sealed their bond of love. Sakura, naturally, was timid at first, as was Naruto, but they got over it and professed their love for each other with the ultimate act of bonding.

Naruto was slowly and calmly walking down the dimly lit streets of Konoha now. He was going to leave, once again, and this time was the last. He wasn't going to come back. He reached the forest edge of the village. Once he left, there was no returning. No one would know what happened to him, except for Sakura.

He had to make her swear not to tell anyone about his condition and how he was going to die fighting Akatsuki. She finally did swear, and Naruto trusted her fully to keep the secret. He knew he could trust her and have faith in her. He smiled to himself as he looked at the town he was never going to see again as a living being.

"Everything is in Konoha," he said to himself. "All the people and things that I love live in this town. Every now and then, I felt like I just didn't belong… but there's no doubt in my mind that this is my home, where I was meant to be. Konoha, everyone, I will miss you more than you can know, probably more than you will miss me."

Naruto snapped to a straight stance and saluted the village for a second, a smile a mile wide across his face. He wasn't faking the smile. This was most likely his most genuine smile ever. He was remembering everything he was going to leave behind, bringing forth all the memories he loved and thinking about everyone he loved.

_Iruka took the giant shuriken to the back to save his life when he was so young, and he explained Naruto's inheritance of the demon fox…_

_The team assignments were announced after he had graduated from the academy, and he was overjoyed at being with his crush, Haruno Sakura, and only _slightly_ intimidated at being in a team with the legendary Uchiha Sasuke._

_Then there was the time that Sasuke dove in front of him and took the attack meant for him in the wave country. Sasuke died in his hands, sending him over the edge to fight and pummel that kid who did it to him. And then the joy at realizing Sasuke was going to be okay._

_Sakura and Sasuke then shared their bowls of Ramen with him so that he wouldn't starve as a result of failing the training exercise. "You guys!" shouted Kakashi, appearing out of nowhere… "_Pass._"_

So many memories flooded his head concerning his friends. He saw all his teammates fight so well in the Genin selection tournament, and then there was the time he became friends with Gaara and the Sand Siblings. There was his first encounter with Tsunade, meeting the soon to be Hokage of Konoha and making that bet with her…

Tears were coming to his eyes, but he wasn't crying. He was loving every minute that he stood there, recalling all his precious memories of Konoha and its residents. "What a place this is," he whispered. "I promise every one of you in this town that I will not die in vain. My death… will have meaning. I will bring a stop to Akatsuki and Orochimaru so that you can all live without any worry. It's a promise, and it will be kept."

Naruto lowered his hand from the salute and stood at ease. "Because that is my ninja way."

* * *

End Chapter Twelve

* * *

This is a short chapter I guess, but I wanted to get this inspirational fluffy shit out of the way first. This, again, is one of my favorite chapters, just because it's supposed to be so emotional and touching. I don't know, maybe it's not as touching as I thought it was. I'm not too good at the emotional descriptiveness, but I think I'm at least a little talented. (No, I'm not an egotist)

So I hope you all liked it. More surprises are to come still, so stay tuned.


	13. Sakura's Pursuit

* * *

Naruto turned tail and ran into the deep, black forest that bordered his beloved Konohagakure, silently taking his leave of home. As he disappeared into the silence of the black depths, someone stepped peeked their head out from behind a tree's shadow.

Sakura had Tsunade's training to thank for remaining undetected. She had been taught to suppress her chakra, even her heartbeat so that even the most skilled ninja wouldn't hear it beath or her lungs inhale. She watched as he kept running and vanished.

She looked back at the town, where only a few lights burned. She turned to face the dark woods again. She was mulling something over in her brain. She would never hear the end of it for leaving town, but she had to. It wasn't up for debate with anyone. It wasn't anything anyone could even explain, including herself.

She supposed it was her undying love for Naruto that made her want to go with him. That she loved him so much she would go anywhere with him, but to try and explain it in so few words seemed insulting to the boy she cared for most. It was a very complicated sense of emotion and feeling that ran through her for Naruto-kun.

She remembered their first days together at the Academy. He was, of course, constantly shunned. She vaguely recalled Naruto trying to please her one day, shortly after their first classes had begun.

"_Happy Valentines Day Sakura-chan," said Naruto shyly, handing a scrappily cut red heart card to the pink-headed girl who was talking with the blonde one named Ino. She turned in a rapid snap to face him._

"_Who are you?" she asked snobbily with a scowl. She recalled thinking of how unimportant he was on account of not being Sasuke._

"_Gomen, Sakura, I am just Narut-_

"_Look at how dirty he is," Ino whispered, loudly. Sakura and Ino laughed maliciously as tears came to Naruto's eyes. He pushed the card forcefully into her hands and ran way. _

She never even read that card. _"No, I don't want to remember all the times I hurt him,"_ she thought, shaking her head as if she could physically push the memories away. _Her thoughts immediately drifted to the last night she slept in Naruto's apartment, twenty-four hours ago approximately._

Even the black of the night couldn't hide her blush. She couldn't believe what she had done last night. It felt good, but she felt guilty as well. If she told anyone, she'd be killed. He parents would kill her. Then Tsunade would kill her, even though Sakura was sure a woman such as her wouldn't have waited 'til marriage to engage in… ahem.

Sakura pushed the thoughts away again. "I can't leave Naruto alone. He wouldn't leave _me_ alone if I were in his shoes. I know what Naruto would do. He'd help the people he loves. He helped me so much. It's decided."

"I'll follow him."

Sakura ran into the forest. Naruto had a few minutes head start and was far enough away that Sakura should be able to track him without being detected at the same time. She'd have to utilize a lot of stealth to follow someone as strong as Naruto, but she was confident she could manage.

Almost fifteen minutes later, Naruto skid to a halt and looked around. This was the meeting place. He was in the small clearing that Gaara had designated with the coordinates he gave him… So where was Gaara.

"I'm over here," said Gaara, dropping from a tree. Naruto smiled.

"Great," said Naruto. "I didn't see you, so I was a bit worried for a second."

"Has the night made you lazy and weak so that you can't detect even me?" asked Gaara, his eyes remaining focused the same way they always were.

"Oh come on," said Naruto, rubbing the back of his head. "You know you're stronger than me. How am I supposed to compete with you, eh?"

"Don't be stupid," said Gaara harshly and coldly. Naruto didn't flinch. "Don't be coy with me like that… You know that you are by far stronger than I am, whether we use our demon forms or not."

"I wouldn't say that I'm that stronger than you Gaara," said Naruto. "Hell, you're the leader of your nation."

"That makes no difference… Let's just go."

"Alright," said Naruto, shrugging his shoulders. "How far is it to get there?"

"First let me ask you this," said Gaara. "What do you want to accomplish. I need to know what you want to do, what your intentions are. Orochimaru and Akatsuki, Itachi specifically, are both dangerous to the worlds we live in… Which one of them do you want to take down?"

"You mean both isn't an option?" asked Naruto.

"I was thinking that, seeing as how we get only one fight, both isn't an option," said Gaara with a smile, uncharacteristic for him. "Orochimaru is closer to our current location, about a day and a half from here if we run using chakra. His lair is lightly guarded by various nins from sound and a few from wind too, along with even a couple sand nins."

"And Akatsuki?"

"Akatsuki's strongest remaining member is Itachi," said Gaara. "I'd say that, of all our enemies, he is the big kahuna, the king of the rock if you will. Akatsuki has lost a lot of its strength. They had many members in their ranks, high-class assassins and warriors, but they've been cut to just a few decent nins and Itachi himself."

"How far is he?"

"He is two whole days' travel from here, hidden in territory that isn't owned by any of the countries. It's vacant, and therefore not watched by anyone, a perfect hideout for him and his crew. They live in a giant cavern, strangely enough, which is well guarded and sealed."

"I want them both gone," said Naruto with his teeth clenched. "They both deserve to be killed, and I want them both to get what they deserve."

"How do you expect to just simply fight them both?" asked Gaara with an annoyed expression. "We get one shot, one fight. We die after that. Have you forgotten?"

"Of course I haven't," said Naruto. "I just… want more than one of them out of the picture. Taking one out of the picture gives free rain to the other, and I fear the consequences could be worse for this world than if we just didn't fight at all."

"How so?"

"If we take out one, the other will not have any opposition to taking power," said Naruto. "That's what they want. They want power, and to tell the truth, I think they're the only things keeping each other from getting it. They regard each other as big time enemies, and they are competing for elbow room, distracting each other in a sense. If one is out of the picture, then the other one won't have anything to stop them from destroying Sand, or Leaf, or any other place they want."

"I see your point," said Gaara, crossing his arms. "I agree, it does put us in a bad situation, but what can we do?"

Naruto sat down and crossed his legs. "What if we could lure them out to the same battle ground, like, get them both in one spot."

"Oh yeah, sure," said Gaara. "We'll lure them out."

"I admit it's dodgy, but think about it now," said Naruto. "If they are both together, and we are there too, we'll be at even a bigger advantage. They will help fight each other, right? I mean, Orochimaru wants my body, and Akatsuki wants me as well. They're not going to let the other take me. They're going to fight each other while we fight as well. It's perfect."

"You do have another valid point," said Gaara. "But it would be hard to just lure them out of hiding, and there's a chance that they may just completely ignore each other long enough to kill us, or possibly just kill us before we get to the luring spot."

"It's difficult, but you know, if they kill me," it wouldn't be a huge loss," said Naruto. "If they want me so badly, they won't kill me, and if I die, their plans or whatever they are thinking will be put to ruin."

"This is too mush to think about right now," said Gaara frustratedly. "There are too many options. We should camp here for the night, since it would be senseless to continue on in the darkness anyway, and we'll think it over."

"Scared of the dark, Gaara?" asked Naruto mockingly. Gaara just glared at him. "Relax," relied the blonde as he stood and dusted himself off. "I was only joking. I guess we can get to setting up camp then."

* * *

End Chapter

* * *

Well, I've successfully confused MYSELF! I don't know which option they should take, so I want some requests, GOOD ones. Give me a review, as many as possible, with your ideas. I want to know how you guys think they should go about getting Orochimaru and Itachi together, or how the fight should start out.

If you come up with any other creative ideas, such as the two some how teaming up temporarily on a truce to take down the two boys, please be my guest and give I to me. I want any ideas you can think of, so lay it on me. You are going to have a long time to think too, as I will be out of town camping for two straight weeks without a computer. I'm sorry it will be so long, but it's a necessity. I actually might be able to get on and check a camp computer, but not long enough to post, just long enough to review your ideas and mull them over in my head as camp goes by. Fear not, I will be thinking of all kinds of ways to help this story while I'm out in the nature.


	14. Plans Put Forth

It was hell trying to figure out the next part of this story. This chapter will divulge Naruto's and Gaara's plan to get their enemies in one battle ground for their last battle. I have two people to thank for my inspiration, or rather, the main part of my inspiration. I took the main elements, combined them, tweaked them, added my parts… So yeah, thanks to you two people.

If you'd like to know who those two people are… Okay, I'll tell you just to be nice. Thank you "Madnarutofan" and "Akkikage". To see their full ideas in their originality, just check out their reviews…

On with the show.

Chapter Fourteen

Naturally, Sakura had to keep her distance from the two elite ninja ahead of her. As soon as she realized Naruto had stopped his traveling, she began to panic and thought that she'd already been detected.

However, she figured out that he had just met up with Gaara, and using every stealth ability she could, she got close enough to them to hear the majority of their musings. She gathered from their talk that they both agreed it was a good idea to get both Orochimaru and Itachi into one battle ground…

_How will they do that I wonder?_ She thought to herself. _I'm starting to think it wasn't much of a good idea to come along on this trip… I could get in the way if I'm not careful.

* * *

_

The next morning, Naruto and Gaara awoke to determine what their course of action would be… "We have to lure one to the other, or both into a midway point," said Gaara plainly, like it was obvious. In essence, it was the obvious solution, but as many things go, it was easier said than done.

"Way to go Gaara," said Naruto jokingly. "You've pointed out the answer to all our problems." Gaara stared coldly at Naruto. It chilled the blonde to his core. "Right, moving on to business."

"Any ideas?" asked Gaara. "I mean, Orochimaru and Itachi are both very intelligent shinobi, and they're both very strong. Anything we do has to be carried out flawlessly."

"Well, let's see," mused Naruto aloud while taking a seat with his legs crossed. "Orochimaru's closer by about a half day's travel. Itachi and Orochimaru are approximately twelve hours away if you're measuring by running speed."

"Yes, we've kinda established this one already," said Gaara in slight frustration.

"It can't be as simple as running each bad guy from their homes into the middle," said Naruto. "It'd be obvious that something was amiss if one of us just showed up and knocked only to say, 'Come and catch me if you can!'" Naruto laughed. "But it would be funny to see their faces. I bet even Itachi would crack."

"Let's assess things a little carefully first," said Gaara. "Orochimaru and Itachi both want your hide. We know Orochimaru just wants you for the Kyuubi in you, and why Itachi wants you is beyond us both. However, Orochimaru would also be content with my as a substitute because he's getting fed up with waiting for you to appear…"

"If he sees me or gets wind of me being out in the open…" thought Naruto aloud.

"He'll jump on this as his only chance to get you," finished Gaara. "Alerting Orochimaru to your presence, he probably wouldn't even think twice before trying to pursue you. He's really desperate for your body as a container for his soul, and it's coming to crunch time for another person to possess. His three years are about up."

"So I guess we've kinda got that figured out," said Naruto. "We know how to get Orochimaru's attention."

"You still can't just waltz right up there though," said Gaara. "You can't look as though you're trying to get his attention. It has to appear that you 'accidentally' let him find out you're close by."

"So how do we get Orochimaru in on this as well?" asked Naruto. Gaara sighed. "What?" questioned Naruto. "What is it?"

"It's highly risky," said Gaara. "So it's also very dangerous. It's a long shot, if you will."

"Spit it out," urged Naruto. "The suspense is killing me."

"Well, we also need you to be the one that attracts Itachi's attention," said Gaara. "But we can't have you in two places at the same time. This means we need to use you Kage Bunshin technique you're so good at."

"Go on," urged Naruto, his curiosity piqued. "And it involves an advanced Henge as well. First of all, I will be the one attracting Orochimaru out here, disguised as you using the Henge Jutsu. It shouldn't prove too difficult to act like an idiot."

"Hey!"

"Moving on. At the same time, while I'm out in the Sound territory, you need to send three Doppelgangers out towards Akatsuki, and two of them need to perform a Henge Jutsu."

"Wow," said Naruto. "Kage Bunshin to Henge… It's complicated, but it shouldn't be terribly difficult. Who should I duplicate?"

"Orochimaru," answered Gaara. "You need to become a perfect clone of Orochimaru. Actually, just one of your Doppelgangers needs to be Orochimaru, while another remains as Naruto. Your third will act the role of and Akatsuki agent who tells Itachi that Naruto has been spotted fighting Orochimaru. The more you make it sound like Orochimaru's winning, the better. This will stir in Itachi a sense of urgency, as he needs you and can't afford to have you die at Orochimaru's hands…"

"It's making sense now," said Naruto, standing up quickly. "I understand it."

"Good," said Gaara plainly. "You have to be extremely careful. This especially applies to the fight you stage between your two Bunshins. If either of them harm each other, they'll disappear, and the jig, as they say, is up."

"Got it."

"I'll be waltzing around the forests near Sound," continued Gaara, "as you of course. This will of course be noticed by an agent of Orochimaru, and said agent will alert him immediately. As soon as I am aware that Orochimaru is after me, I'll send you a signal with this…"

Gaara held out a small ear piece in one of his hands. "We can communicate with these. As soon as I give you the word, alert Itachi that you are fighting Orochimaru. I'll start running towards the midway point, and you get your two Bunshins fighting there so Itachi arrives as well."

"We have to do this in perfect symmetry as well," said Naruto, inserting the ear piece. "Theoretically, I should be able to triplicate the earpiece as well as my own body if it's on my person. What do you want the real me to do in the mean time?"

"Hang at the halfway point in the trees and hide," said Gaara. "It would be simple of course to have you fill the role of one of your clones, but we want to risk as little injury to you as possible, and you need to be well rested."

"What about you?" asked Naruto. "Could't you just send a clone of yourself in the Henge form to do your roll?"

"…No, I can't," said Gaara. "I can't perform any cloning techniques of any sort because of my gourd. It can't be duplicated for some strange reason. The Shukkaku in it can't be cloned, and if it's attempted… bad things will happen."

"Whatever," said Naruto dismissively. "Let's get moving. If we leave now and move at a steady, fast pace, we can be ready by tomorrow afternoon."

And just like that, Sakura watched the two nins jump into the trees to continue their journey to death. "Dammit, they're fast," she cursed as she took up pursuit. _I can't let them discover me though. I have to hang back enough that I'm undetected, and I have to use every stealth ability I learned from Hokage-sama. I didn't spend years working so hard for nothing. That old woman is useful indeed._

End Chapter Fourteen.

Go ahead. Scream. This chapter sucked. This chapter is short and has almost nothing in it. I'm sorry. It must suck. I know. I left you guys for more than two weeks and came back to give you a shitty chapter. I really am sorry for being so rude. I just wanted to end it here because the next chapter will pick up with the plan being put into action, and I didn't want to start that here and leave it in the middle of something. It's the best chapter break I could come up with, but the next one should be considerably better.


	15. Kyuubi's Gift: Nine Tails Iris

Yeah, I know it's been forever since I updated. That's my bad entirely. It's part laziness and part lack of creativity. it took me a little bit of creativity to put this together, and that took a while to come up with. So here it is. By the way, there will be a conversation between Naruto and the Kyuubi at the end of this chapter, and te Kyuubi offers a littl help to our hero. This will be a huge factor in the fight against Itachi...

* * *

Orochimaru blocked Naruto's kunai dagger with one of his own, parrying the attacks sent at him by the blonde child. He effortlessly swerved this way and that, as though Naruto's attacks were coming in slow motion. Naruto gave a primal growl as he jumped back into the fray, slashing and punching, while Orochimaru carefully dodged this way and that, not taking a single hit.

Neither Naruto nor Orochimaru were wounded at all. That was because, this battle of course, was all an act. In fact, Orochimaru was miles and miles away. The Orochimaru currently engaged in combat was none other than Naruto himself, disguised as the notorious Snake King with an advanced Henge no Jutsu… But the deception ran even deeper than _that._

Neither of the fighting pair was actually Naruto. The real Naruto was hiding in a tree a short distance away, unmoving so as not to reveal his cover. The fighting duo was a pair of Naruto's famous Bunshins, shadow clones, and one of them was cleverly disguised as one of his worst enemies. That still wasn't all. Naruto had a third Bunshin in disguise elsewhere, running towards the cavern belonging to the Akatsuki as a member of the group trying to warn Itachi and lure him out to the battle.

Meanwhile, to add to the deception, Gaara was under a Henge as Naruto in the territory of sound, trying to lure out the real Orochimaru. He walked lazily through the forests, looking absolutely filthy and torn, an attempt at looking tired and easy to pick off. With any luck, someone would notice that a fatigued Naruto was poking his head out of hiding and was just asking to be found. Of course, Gaara indeed _was_ asking to be found.

That part of the plan was working actually.

A man wearing the sound forehead protector, a man with seemingly warm, yet realistically cold, eyes, ran into a large chamber room. "Orochimaru-sama," he said, bowing and looking down at the ground. "It's Naruto."

"What about him?" hissed the snake-like voice of Orochimaru from a shady throne. He sat with a wicked smile on his face. His slatted eyes would've alerted anyone to the evil of this man. Those were the only features visible to the right hand man, Kabuto.

"He's been spotted not far from here," clarified Kabuto, still bowed politely. "He is just on the border of sound territory, though it doesn't seem that he knows where he is. It looks as though he's lost and tired."

"Is anyone with him?" asked Orochimaru gravely.

"No one," said Kabuto. "No other life forms could be detected in the immediate area. He's completely solo." Kabuto awaited the reply from his master.

…

"Well," said Orochimaru, standing up straight from his chair and stretching. "Let's go greet our nine-tails friend."

"_I'm not sure how much longer my Bunshins will last," _thought Naruto as he watched them battle. _"I imagine I've got another hour or so left in them if I'm careful to make sure they don't expel any more chakra than necessary."_

Sakura watched from not far off as well, observing the fight between the Doppelgangers with interest. _"It's pretty well choreographed,"_ she thought in amazement. _"Such brilliant and perfect balance and timing in everything. It's amazing how much control he has… Well, I can't say I didn't know how much he had changed."_

"NARUTO!" called Gaara over the two way earpiece radio. "Naruto, can you hear me?"

"Sure, Gaara," whispered Naruto from his position in a tree. "Go ahead."

"I just detected the approach of Orochimaru and another Sound nin," said Gaara. "They've no doubt found me, or you I guess. I'm leading them to your spot right now. Anything about Itachi?"

"Nothing from that end," said Naruto. "Alright, hurry over. I'll be waiting. If I receive any news about Itachi, I'll tell you."

"Okay," replied Gaara simply. "I'm out."

Gaara's mic cut out, and Naruto was alone again.

The Naruto bunshin came to a halt in front of the giant cavern of the Akatsuki. There was a huge rock in front of it, and he could tell it was sealed shut. "Shit," said the spy. (Naruto looks like an Akatsuki agent, remember) "I can't just call out for help. That'll blow my cover."

"Can I help you?" asked a cold voice, laced with dangerous intent. Naruto spun on the spot and saw Itachi a mere three feet away. He was standing right behind him! "What do you want?" asked Itachi. Naruto gulped, but recovered his composure quickly.

"Uh, yeah," fumbled Naruto for a second. "It's the Uzumaki brat. He's been spotted less than an hour away from here." Naruto pressed on, not able to observe any signs of facial expression from the deadly Itachi. Thank goodness those creepy Sharingans weren't out. He was scared shitless of those things. "Anyway, he seems kinda lost. There's more though. He's engaged in a fight with Orochimaru of the Sound. They're both fighting all out…"

"Really," said Itachi plainly. He brought a finger to his chin and scratched it. Naruto looked back at the terrifying man's face, trying to look as confident as possible. Those Sharingans were menacing… scary.

"_Sharangan?" _yelled Naruto in his brain. _"When did he activate that! Shit."_

Itachi gave his wicked half-smile. "You take me for an idiot, Naruto-kun," said Itachi. "I didn't attain the most powerful Sharingan eyes for nothing. You think a Henge Jutsu is enough to fool my all-seeing eyes?"

Naruto's Henge was released, and the blonde boy looked up at Itachi with a smirk, trying to repel the fear within him. "Yeah, I guess I was hoping that would work," he said.

"Foolish brat," said Itachi. "You're mine now." Naruto stood rooted to the spot. Itachi grabbed collar of the boy and held him up. Naruto did a fast hand seal as he was lifted.

"Double Bunshin No Jutsu!" he said. With a pop, a second Naruto flashed into existence several feetaway. Itachi turned to look at the blonde boy that had materialized out of thin air as it began to run away. The clone still in Itachi's grasp grabbed both of Itachi's arms with both of his own and latched on.

"My time is almost up it would seem," said Naruto. "I won't give you the satisfaction of taking my life however." Naruto took a kunai out of his satchel and drove it into his own hand and through Itachi's as well. Itachi let out a small grunt from the pain as Naruto disappeared.

"_I Bunshin?" _he asked himself. _"Very clever, little brat. But a wound to my hand isn't enough to hurt me really. I am impressed at your control over your chakra now though." _Itachi stood straight and wiped the blood away from his scratched wrist. "Forming a shadow clone from a shadow clone. Expert chakra domination and flow control."

Itachi ran in the direction Naruto had run off to. He knew Naruto was planning something, probably something along the lines of a trap. He didn't care and he didn't worry. Whatever Naruto was thinking wasn't enough. Itachi smiled in spite of his normally grim demeanor. This might be fun.

Naruto, back at the battle site, the _real_ one, had seen what happened. His attempt at tricking Itachi had failed. "Gaara," he said into his ear microphone. "Can you read me?"

"What is it Naruto?" asked Gaara. "I'm busy running away right now… Man, I'd love to just kill them here."

"Itachi didn't buy it," sighed Naruto. "He saw through it. It's that damn Sharingan."

"So he's not coming?"

"Well, I think he's coming anyway," said Naruto. "He doesn't seem to care."

"Be careful Naruto," said Gaara. "Don't engage him alone. We're still not sure how things are going to play out, but we only have a chance if the two of us are fighting together."

"Got it," said Naruto. "Out."

Naruto sat and stewed in the tree branch. He hadn't moved in hours. He wanted to at least stretch, but it could blow his cover. He had to watch those stupid doppelgangers play-fight.

"_That Sharingan is unbeatable,"_ he thought. _"He can see through any genjutsus or ninjutsus with it, even taijutsus. What was I thinking? Even with Kyuubi's extra chakra and power, how can I overcome something like that?"_

_**Child, are you doubting my power?**_

_Kyuubi? Ah, you're awake._

_**You don't think my power, even if fully tapped into by yourself, can bring Itachi down?**_

"_Kyuubi, his Sharingan is unbeatable. Anything we do can be seen through, no matter how much control you give me."_

_**Kid, I haven't spent the last few years training with you for nothing. I figured a time would come when I had to give you one last lesson… Or rather, this is more of a gift.**_

"_What are you talking about Kyuubi? A gift? Is it anything like me having to die because of being your cage? Because, you know, I'm not too fond of that."_

**_I never intended for that to happen! Listen, I've come to grow fond of you, child. I like you. You've got spunk, enthusiasm, liveliness. You've been an unbearable pain in the ass._**

"_Watch it fox, or I'll kick your ass."_

**_Hehehehehe… That's what I like to hear. Show me your spirit! Kid, If you're going to die for this fight, then I'm going to help you do as much as you can before you go. This gift... Consider it my repentance for having killed you in advance._**

"_So what's the gift?"_

_**It's an ability that only I possess, kid. It's called the Nine-Tails Iris. It's a modification to your human eyes.**_

"_A… modification?"_

**

* * *

End Chapter Fifteen

* * *

**

The next chapter will be the start of the battle between the heroes and Orochimaru and Itachi. How will it play out? Who's the stronger bad guy? Well, i can tell you the only bad guy to really worry about is Itachi. I still ahve to work it all out in my noodle, which will not be easy. I have to do this just right, and I don't have much to go on about how Gaara will fight as the Shukkaku. Maybe I should go back and read some manga chapters from a long time ago.


	16. Hoping To Survive

This entire chapter is dialogue. I apologize, but I think you'll be rather please by the end of this chapter regardless. The entire dialogue scene is between Naruto and the Kyuubi. Some parts are gushy and emotional, and there are a couple of those notorious scenes where they bicker at each other.

Anyway, you all better pay attention in this one, because some major plot twisting awaits, and it was kinda hard to explain in words. You'll know what part I'm talking about. I should just let you all get on with the chapter.

_**

* * *

The Nine Tails Iris… **_

_What does it do, Kyuubi?_

_**You, of course, are aware of the power of the Sharingan and Byakugan? It is similar to those, but it also has its particular differences. The Sharingan is key to uncovering the secrets and methods of ninjutsu and genjutsu, allowing limited foresight.**_

_Right._

_**The Byakugan, as well as being able to see through physical objects, can see the paths of chakra that flow in bodies, meaning a very skilled user can tell if something like a Bunshin is fake, or it can see where Chakra is being focused.**_

_So what's your Iris thingy worth?_

_**I'd watch your attitude…**_

_Shut up!_

_**The Nine Tails Iris is by far much more useful of an eye to have. It grants you my mind, first of all, meaning everything I know, while this eye is active, you will know. Battle strategies, knowledge of any jutsus, anything… You know it all when you're using my eye.**_

_  
Wow! That is great! Wait a minute. If I just know what you know, I'll be pretty dumb won't I?_

**_  
Sorry, kid, but that insult sucked… Anyway, that's not even what makes my eye so great. As I said, The Sharingan and Byakugan have their special abilites. My eye, Child, is the only thing that can stand up to the Sharingan's foresight._**

_What! You mean your eye can beat the Sharingan? Even the Mangekyou can be beaten by it?_

**_Kid, the Nine Tails Iris will even the odds and prevent the Mengekyou from taking any power in this battle. Before you go asking questions, it'd be best if I explain. I'm not sure what you've heard of the abilities a Mangekyou user can attempt to perform, but one is called the Tsukiyomi. It allows the user to create the illusion in a victim that they are stuck in another place and another time from reality, and the user is in complete control of what happens in this reality. Usually, it's used to torture the victim for endless periods of time, even though it's only an instant in the real world. Illusions such as this won't even faze you if you've activated my eye._**

_Whoa. That's awesome. So, you're saying I'm immune to Genjutsu._

**_Essentially, yes, you are immune to even the most powerful illusions and genjutsus. This gives you a huge advantage. There's more though to the eye. Not only can it prevent genjutsus from taking over you, but the Nine Tails Iris is adept at… 'messing' with the Sharingan._**

_I don't understand you there._

_**The Iris will send false signals to the Sharingan eyes, almost like turning genjutsu against its own master. I'll explain better. If you were to fight a Sharingan user, he'd be able to see your actions a split second before they happen, and thus the ninja can act accordingly to counter before you even make the move. The Iris will give you a way to counter it by actually sending your actions to Itachi's eyes a little longer ahead of time than original.**_

_Wait a minute… That just sounds like it's helping the Sharingan._

_**In essence, it's boosting the Sharingan's advantage for sure, but the Sharingan user won't know it, and will actually try to block a split second before it's time to make the necessary action. You can throw Itachi's timing off completely. He'll make a punch in one direction, thinking you're going to be there, when in actuality, you're not there yet. You can ten get the jump on him by catching him off guard. It actually causes the enemy to lower its defenses. This is best for Taijutsu aid.**_

_Wow, Kyuubi. That's a lot of power. How come you never gave it to me before!_

**_Because, Little Child, the Nine Tails Iris will most certainly mean death._**

_What?_

_**By using the Iris, Naruto-kun, you will actually be bringing out my power for a time. **_

_Kun?_

_**You will be me, and I will be you. Don't freak out, you'll still be in total control, and you won't look any different. The problem is, the use of the Iris is simply a lot more power than a human can control. I mean, think about it. The Fourth died to seal up my powers. Naturally, bringing out my full potential, even if it is at the container's request, someone has to die as a result of its use.**_

_What do you mean, 'someone'? You make it sound like there's a chance that the user doesn't have to be killed. Bah, what does it matter? I'm going to die anyway, right?_

…

_Kyuubi?_

_**Hm?**_

_I'm going to die. Right? I mean, it's unavoidable anyway, so I've already accepted the fact that I will be dead at the end of this battle. So I'm not sure what you're saying or I'm not getting the full effect of what you said about 'someone' dying as a result of the Iris. I'll be me that dies here today._

_**Naruto-kun, now that I think of it, there's a chance that this Iris thing might save your life.**_

_WHAT?_

_**Why, Naruto-kun, will you be dead at the end of this battle?**_

_Because bringing out your power will be the final straw that breaks the proverbial camel's back. It will put too much demonic strain on my body. As a demon, you're nt meant to be holed up in a human body. As just a mortal, physical container, I will wither and die from the stress that bringing you out will result in. As soon as your demon power subsides… when the battle is done and you're not needed any longer… I will die, because, in essence, as soon as I activate you, I should die. I'll live as long as your demon chakra is out and around my body. Is that it?_

_**You got it right on the nail kiddo. You're right. I will be your death. It's hard for me to say it, Kid, but I am so sorry… that you had to pay so dearly for me.**_

_Sorry? Kyuubi?_

_**I don't really understand it myself, so don't ask me to explain. You've… kinda changed my Kid. I mean, I've been in you all your life. Naturally, I am affected I guess. I'm starting to even think like you. Hell, I used to only think about how to escape you. Now, I only think about the best way I can help you overcome your battles and enemies.**_

_Kyuubi._

_**Anyways, yes, bringing me out will certainly kill you, but… I think there might be a chance that you can be saved by the Iris. Someone will definitely have to die, but the death might be transferable. Your death is supposedly inevitable as a result of my power. Another death is also imminent if you use the Iris, usually the user's death. But that's trying to take from the same cookie jar twice.**_

_How about you try explaining to me why the Iris is fatal to me. You're going to confuse me and a lot of readers pretty soon._

_**Oh.** (The Kyuubi and Naruto casually glance at the audience reading this story. Naruto gives a sheepish smile and waves, and then the two turn back to their business**.) The Iris is a great deal of power. It's a great deal of demonic power, actually, as I'm sure you know. Using it is equivalent to all the stress I've put on your body over the years in one shot. You understand that much?**_

_Yeah._

**_Good. That demon energy needs to be transferred upon the end of the Iris's use. It has to go somewhere. This is unlike normal chakra transference when performing jutsus. In nin and gen jutsu use, when you don't use the chakra you've summoned up, it disappears. That's not possible with my chakra. That's why, whenever you've been able to tap into me and my chakra has been just coming off in waves, it typically burns up your skin. It needs to go somewhere. Fortunately for you, you've been able to build up a sort of immunity to the waves of chakra that freely flow around you and not waste it, giving you even more control. Well, the Iris could follow a same sort of use._**

_I don't follow you._

_**Look! If you can find a way for all the demonic chakra and energy I expel for the Iris technique to go somewhere other than back to you, all the demonic strain put on your body by this last battle, regardless of anything else, will go with it, and will undoubtedly survive. Are you getting any of this?**_

_Whoa… Kyuubi, you mean I can live if I can find some place to transfer the negative effects of the Iris?_

_**That's exactly it my boy. It's tricky though. It took a lot of use and getting used to just to be able to stand my chakra flow and to be able to reroute it for better use. This is much more complicated. You can't reroute it to yourself like you've been doing. At some point, before you tap out of my powers, you need to do something to get rid of that negative energy. You need to shoot off the last of the Iris's powers into another living person.**_

_And this other living person will die?_

_**Undoubtedly… But Naruto-kun, it's extremely difficult, and it's only specula-**_

_Alright. It sounds like a plan. By the way I gather it, what I need to do it actually be in contact with my transferee and release all the demonic powers into him or her. Correct?_

_**Yes…**_

_Itachi will be my transferee though._

**End Chapter Sixteen

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**

I never imagined this story would be this long. Well, I'm guessing a lot of you were shocked at me pulling this one out of the bag. I'm not even sure myself where I came up with it. The Nine Tails Iris thing I've been thinking about for a while. I knew Naruto's genjutsu repelling skills were terrible, so I had to come up with a plan that would sort of make him immune. I'm sorry it's kinda lame, but I thought it was kinda clever, having a new "Eye" ability. But the thing about it possibly saving Naruto just sort of popped into my head.

Anyways, I've been getting a lot of reviews from you guys asking that I not kill Naruto. Well, that's the only solution I've got for it. I have to actually have the means to save someone before I save them. I wasn't going to just have Naruto live on will power alone. To be honest, I fully intended Naruto to die in this, but I like this method much better, and it's all because of you guys. Thanks for pestering me so much for a better ending. You got what you wanted, and I got a better story.

Oh, and I'm sorry, but I don't think Gaara surviving is in the plans. I'm not going to really be able to fit in another strange plot twist for his benefit. It's not because I don't like him, and I really don't like him much. I just don't think it'll be right. Someone needs to tragically die, and I can't think of any other things to save him. No, Shukkaku can't save him.

If anyone had trouble understanding what the hell just happened, I'll try and explain it better upon request from a reviewer.


	17. Is That You? Sasuke?

This is going to be a great chapter

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Chapter Seventeen

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**

"_I'll need a way to successfully make sure the evil chakra transfer goes smoothly,"_ thought Naruto quietly as his Doppelgangers battled it out. _"It's the trickiest thing I've ever thought of."_

"Naruto!" said Gaara urgently through the earpiece. "It's time! I'm practically at your location!"

"Got it Gaara," said Naruto, standing up from his tree branch so he could see more clearly. He could definitely detect the three chakra sources coming nearer and nearer. He had less than a minute.

"Here goes nothing," he said to himself. He hopped down from the tree branch, and Sakura was startled from her sleep. She had been sleeping for a few minutes, having nodded off in the boredom.

"_Damn!" _she screamed to herself. _"I can't believe you fell asleep! What kind of nin are you!"_ She saw Naruto walk out into the open and wait for Gaara's arrival. Gaara jumped down from a tree and stopped.

"They're right behind me, Naruto," said Gaara. "We'll have to do the best we can to not use up our demons too much, at least until Itachi arrives."

"I understand," said Naruto. "I have a few new abilities that might be able to help me without Kyuubi just yet."

"Put your heart into this battle, Naruto," said Gaara. "To be honest, I know for a fact that we are outmatched against Itachi and Orochimaru together… I'm counting on the famous Uzumaki weakness of not knowing when to give up. I know you'll come through for the both of us."

"Aww, come on Gaara," said Naruto, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "You make it sound like you think I'm stronger than you or something."

Gaara turned around to face the bushes, muttering something that sounded a lot like, "idiot," to Naruto. Out of the bushes jumped two foes that Naruto would like nothing better than to kill instantly.

Orochimaru and Kabuto were there, standing with their arms crossed. Their faces showed completely different emotions from each other though. Orochimaru wore that typical, sick, psychotic grin on his face while Kabuto remained Stoic and emotionless, neither excited nor seemingly put off at seeing Gaara and Naruto waiting for them.

Orochimaru looked over at his look alike and the Naruto bunshin fighting. "How strange," he said amusedly. "What is the meaning of that?"

"None of your damn business, Orochimaru," said Naruto, waving a hand nonchalantly. The Naruto bunshins disappeared into a puff of smoke.

"It seems we were lead into a trap, Kabuto," said Orochimaru, still smiling. "You think?"

"Yes, I see it now…" said Kabuto, shifting his weight a little. "Gaara is apparently quite the Henge accomplice. We were following a 'fake' Naruto to get to the real one. I wonder the meaning of this."

"It matters not," said Orochimaru. "Naruto-kun, I've been searching for you for so long, and now you reveal yourself to me? Whatever can you be hoping to accomplish?"

"Bad news for you, pal," said Naruto challengingly. "My days on this planet alive are numbered." Orochimaru's smile dropped a little. "That's right. I'm dying buddy, and there's nothing that can be done about it anymore."

"_We can leave the Iris thing a secret for a little while, you think?"_

"_**Good thinking."**_

"What do you mean?" asked Orochimaru. "You look like quite the healthy little boy to me, the perfect container for my soul."

Naruto laughed a few times, just to piss off Orochimaru. It seemed to work, as it became apparent that the Snake-Sannin was annoyed that he didn't know something that the blonde apparently did. "Orochimaru, you want me for the Kyuubi that dwells in my body. You think that having the body that is the container for the strongest Demon will help you? That Kyuubi is killing me Orochimaru. In fact… The next time I make a move in combat, I will die."

"You bluff."

"Why would I bluff?" asked Naruto sardonically. "I called you here for a fight anyway. That's my purpose for this fight. I will die while simultaneously taking you with me to the afterlife."

… "You show no signs of lying, Naruto-kun," said Orochimaru. "I'm looking at the face of a 100 percent honest man, aren't I?"

Naruto nodded. "And you, Gaara of the sand… are you going to tell me that you also are dying at the hands of Shukkaku?" Gaara nodded.

"I see," said Orochimaru. "I understand. Your bodies have taken too much stress from your respective demons. That's what's killing you. Well, I have no intention of fighting you two."

"You don't have a choice," said Gaara, sand starting to peacefully flow from the gourd on his back. It formed a ring around him.

"We didn't bring you here to tell you it was fruitless to attempt to use our bodies as your slaves," said Naruto. "We brought you here to take you down before we go down. It's sort of like our 'dying wish'."

Orochimaru laughed his wicked, fear-inducing laugh. "Ku ku ku ku ku ku…" It occurred to Naruto that Orochimaru now knew something he didn't know himself. Orochimaru had some kind of trump.

"No, little boys, I don't believe that you realize it is indeed _you_ that is without a choice," he said, his face switching to the menacing glare he gave when serious. "I am in control here.

"KUCHIYUSE NO JUTSU!"

A huge snake burst from the earth several yards away as it was summoned. Orochimaru's summoning ability hadn't evidently gotten any worse over the years. That was a lighting fast summoning if Naruto ever saw one. Naruto froze in horror as he saw what was wrapped tightly in the snake's long toungue.

Sakura was struggling helplessly in its grip, her arms pinned to her side. Orochimaru laughed even more. "I see that you're realizing the situation in which you have placed yourself, Naruto-kun," said Orochimaru. "See what you have done? You have jeopardized the life of this lovely little girl. And for what? You thought you could just take on Orochimaru of the Sannin! You foolish, _stupid_ brat!"

"Sakura-chan!" yelled Naruto. _"What the hell is she doing here? This is wrong! This is bad!"_ "Put her down right now, Orochimaru!"

"Or what?" asked Orochimaru. He raised his hand a little, and the tongue trapping Sakura tightened as she gasped. "I'll crush her. You know it's not beyond my ability or rational."

"Gaara… What can we do?"

"Naruto, you are a Shinobi," said Gaara. "A strong one at that. You know that sacrifices have to be made in the heat of battle. This 'Sakura' is in the way of our very last mission. He can't be bargained with."

"That's unacceptable," growled Naruto to himself. "Isn't there something we can do?"

"I will not be used as a tool to fight against Naruto-kun!" screamed Sakura with rage. She burst from the tongue of the snake by expanding her chakra in a bubble around her, using her strength taught to her by the Hokage-sama.

She dropped to the ground and landed on her feet as the snake hissed angrily at having its tongue torn apart. Orochimaru looked taken aback by the outburst of strength from just a girl. "You… are strong," he said after a moment's pause. "I only know one female to have accomplished strength like that."

"Hokage Tsunade-same is my sensei," said Sakura with her best glare she could muster. "I believe she is the woman to which you refer."

"I see," said Orochimaru. "This will be an interesting battle if I have to fight."

"You do," said Naruto, walking forward to Sakura.

"Naruto," she said quickly. "I'm sorry for following you here. I didn't mean to-

Naruto placed a hand over her mouth quickly. "I need you to stay out of this battle," he said seriously. "You weren't meant to be here for this. I don't want anything happening to you. Other battles, I've been able to be there by shear luck a lot of the times… I don't know how far that luck will take me in this battle. Leave, Sakura-chan."

Naruto turned around and faced Orochimaru squarely. "Your ass is grass," he said to him. "Kabuto can fight too. It's no matter You'll need all the help you can get."

"Ku ku ku ku ku ku… Such confidence. I hope you have a good show for me, Naruto-kun. Don't disappoint me, after all these words we have exchanged."

Orochimaru disappeared before Naruto or Gaara knew what was happening, and he reappeared right in front of Naruto, his kunai drawn. He jabbed with the weapon, but Naruto backflipped out of the way and jumped back with his own kunai.

The metal clashed on metal as sparks flew from their synchronized attack. They pressed into each other for a few seconds before Orochimaru was forced to retreat backwards. A stream of sand blasted right past him. Had he been a second slower in leaving Naruto, Gaara's sand would've had him.

He threw his kunai at Gaara, which was effortlessly repelled by the auto defense of the Gourd sand. Kabuto landed next to Gaara and slashed several times toward him with his open hands. The sand raised itself automatically for each block, but it was cut apart by Kabuto's karate chops.

"You're using medical ninjutsu for combat?" asked Gaara as he stepped backwards a few steps with Kabuto's advances. "Chakra scalpel?"

"You're observant," said Kabuto. "Your sand is an ultimate defense, but my Chakra enhanced attacks can slice through it as easy as a scalpel cuts flesh."

Naruto followed Orochimaru into the air with a kunai in each hand. "Don't you run away from me!" he yelled. He threw a kunai at the sannin, which was blocked with ease. Naruto met him in mid air and parried a kunai from Orochimaru with his remaining free one.

"Resengan!" he yelled. The blue, swirling energy hit Orochimaru squarely in the stomach, and the man was thrown in a swirling heap to the ground, where he exploded into a puff of smoke.

"A Bunshin!" stated Naruto. Orochimaru fell from above with his katana drawn. He sliced vertically at the blonde boy, and the sword cut a long gash in Naruto's stomach as Orochimaru landed.

"You fell for a basic Bunshin?" asked Orochimaru. "Please tell me you can offer more."

Naruto smiled as he also exploded into a plume of smoke. Orochimaru saw only too late Naruto's plan, as the boy jumped from the trees above. "Et tu, Orochimaru!" he slammed both of his fists over the man's head, sending him into the ground like rocket.

"Underneath the underneath," said Naruto as he landed, clenching his fist victoriously in front of him. "A lesson learned from my former sensei. Get serious Orochimaru."

Orochimaru stood up strait and began laughing. "Your sensei was wise. Kakashi, no? Well, you're right. It is time to get serious." Orochimaru disappeared, the tell tale signs of the use of super speed. Naruto's eyes followed him effortlessly.

The snake-sannin threw a kunai at Naruto's head as he dashed sideways, which Naruto dodged by turning his head to the side a little. Simultaneously, Orochimaru switched directions fast enough to give anyone whiplash. Naruto's eyes didn't follow him after that. "Shit, I lost him."

Something smacked into the small of his back hard, sending him forward to his knees in pain. Orochimaru had placed his elbow conveniently in a strong attack. As he recovered, Naruto was hit again by Orochimaru from above, causing him to hit the ground with concussive force.

He stared up at a kunai that Orochimaru was in the process of stabbing him with. It almost hit, but he twisted to the side in a split second and curled his body into a brilliant spinning kick move that tripped Orochimaru while simultaneously kicking the dagger out of his hand. (Try to imagine a break dancing-like move)

He whipped himself to his feet while Orochimaru did the same. They faced each other grimly. Each had a small spot of blood on the corner of their mouths. "Your taijutsu is improved," said Orochimaru.

"And you're ugly," retorted Naruto with a laugh. "I've been training too long to only be equal with you Orochimaru. I'm going to prove that that training has made me powerful enough to take you down as a superior shinobi."

Orochimaru laughed again. Naruto couldn't possibly hate that laugh more he thought. But he was hating it more and more every time he heard it. "You? Equal or greater to me? My dear boy, you haven't a chance."

Orochimaru started performing some fast hand seals. "Kuchiyuse No Jutsu!" he yelled, summoning a cylindrical coffin from the ground. Naruto had heard of him doing something similar in his fight against the Third from an overheard conversation amongst Anbu. Naruto readied himself.

"Whatever puppet you've summoned won't be enough, baka," said Naruto, raising a singl kunai as he took his stance. Orochimaru laughed.

"Come on out, Uchiha Sasuke-kun," beckoned the sannin with a hiss.

Naruto's eyes widened in stereotypical surprise as, out of the coffin, stepped the body of Uchiha Sasuke.

**

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End Chapter Seventeen.

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Oh my, Sasuke's back? No, he's not really back. Anyone who knows anything will know that it's simply a soul duplicate attachment that's been placed in the dead body of a fellow dead man. It's not really Sasuke, though it looks like it. I won't give any more away.


	18. Enter the Real Threat!

I'm responding to a couple reviewers at the moment.

To Krn-Kimbap: As to how Sasuke died, try reading the first couple of chapters. That's how this story started. I'm not saying that condescendingly. It's just written in those first two, maybe in the first ONE, how Sasuke died in the first place. I thank you for reviewing and I am faithfully watching your story also. I'm sorry I forgot about my promise to draw you a picture of your character. I'm going to start as soon as I'm off the computer, and I should have it for you by Sunday at the latest I think.

To Hyou: I thank you also for your advice on Orochimaru's summon, but I'm quite positive I'm not in teh wrong anywhere. When you say that a living person is necessary as a sacrifice, you're right. I stated somewhere, I'm pretty sure, that Naruto knew it was just a soul copy placed in the dead body of someone else, that it wasn't really Sasuke in front of him in the bodily sense. And I understand about the tag needing to be inserted. You'll noticed that Sasuke does not take a single action at all in this story, including this chapter. Just clearing some things up. Thanks for the review though, as it tells me I need to make sure I'm more clear when writing.

Destiny: It's good to have you aboard the story miss. If you could, reveiw every chapter after your eleventh, because I want more reveiws in my counter, and it makes me feel better. I hope you continue to enjoy.

Dragon's Sword: I can't believe I forgot to add that little part in there, about the Edo Tensei. I'm sorry. That's just flagrant stupidity on my part. Thanks for correcting me. I'll try to be more diligent in doing it right in the future.

There are a lot of other reviewers out there, and you know who you are. I love you people who've been faithfully following this novel, even after I left it so long in between updates here and there and with putting in shitty chapter every now and then. I'm in dept to you all. Especially you Houza. I love your Naruto stories. They are fantastic. I love the Cherry Blossom poem, and I just saw your newest one "Goodbye" Thanks to you a lot.

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Chapter Eighteen

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Sasuke grinned evilly from his sarcophagus as he emerged. He looked exactly as he did the day he had died. He was still the boy Naruto had competed with for so long, so long ago.

The battle between Gaara and Kabuto seemed to have been temporarily derailed as well, as they had stopped to see the technique. Sasuke was covered in curse seal markings. "Naruto!" shouted Gaara. "That's not Sasuke! It's just a mindless drone!"

Naruto smirked. "You don't have to tell me twice," said Naruto. "You stole my friend's soul, God only knows how, and imprisoned him in that body?"

Orochimaru smiled. "It's like a nice little reunion," he said. "You finally get to see your old friend again."

"Don't fuck with me Orochimaru," said Naruto. He charged at Sasuke, his kunai prepared. "I have no reserves about kicking this puppet's ass. I'll be doing my old friend a favor anyway this way."

Sasuke was still undeveloped in his strength. Naruto knew he would pose no threat to him now. Though they competed so much for dominance in the past, Naruto knew that this technique only displayed the power of the person at the time they died. Sasuke, Curse Seal or no, was not even close enough to Naruto's power, and he knew it.

"Your soul will be freed soon buddy," whispered Naruto, lunging at Sasuke. Something stopped him and tripped him though. He turned from his spot on the ground though and saw that his leg was wrapped up by the slimy tongue of a giant snake.

"What the hell!" he shouted. "Where'd that come from!"

Orochimaru ran in on him at full speed. Naruto, as he knew, was in a bad spot, held tightly in place by the snake's trap, and his foe's sword drawn. He had no idea where the snake had come from, but he knew it was real, and that it was summoned.

"_Kyuubi, I really need to be using that power," _he thought urgently.

_**I can't give it to you yet. It'll kill you too soon, and your battle won't be resolved.**_

"Dammit!" He performed a quick seal from his location, and a doppelganger appeared next to him as Orochimaru sliced him in half. Orochimaru smiled as the previously trapped Naruto burst with a pop into smoke.

"Used a Bunshin and Kawarimi Jutsu simultaneously," said Orochimaru. "You didn't even need to separated the hand seals. It was all one fluid attack. Combination jutsus mastery at such a young age."

"Yeah, I'm told I can be quite the powerful Shinobi sometimes," said Naruto, "when I put my mind to it."

"It's a shame I will not have that body."

Kabuto performed a whirling mid air kick at Gaara, who bent backwards as his sand helped slow the attack. He didn't have time to be screwing around with Kabuto right now, and he knew it. He had to finish this, but it was difficult to fight the medi nin without using any of Shukkaku's abilities other than the sand defensive system.

"I don't have time to fight you," said Gaara in anger at Kabuto. "You know I could easily kill you, don't you?"

"Of course," said Kabuto as he jabbed forward with his palm, exploding through the sand wall that formed and kitting Gaara in the chest. Gaara fell to the ground as sand went spraying everywhere around him, cushioning his fall. "You're not using Shukkaku against me, which means, for some reason, you have reserves about dying just yet. Perhaps you want to live? You won't beat me without all of your abilities, or at least some of them, at your disposal, because you depend so much on the Shukkaku. Hell, you haven't any taijutus at all for the most part."

"_He's right,"_ thought Sakura from a short distance away, crouching around a tree's trunk. _"Gaara is no good in this fight unless he uses the Shukkaku, and I know he won't do that until Itachi arrives. He's holding back, but it's fruitless right now. He may just be plain killed against Kabuto's chakra scalpel attacks… Only another chakra scalpel can repel it."_

It didn't take a genius for Sakura to figure out that she was the only one who could go against Kabuto at the moment. Tsunade's abilities, handed down to her, were the only thing that could stand up to Kabuto's own medical taijutsu-jutsu combination.

She stood up and readied herself. She was done running. She would fight and make herself useful. She was done being fought for. She ran into the battle.

Naruto jumped backwards to avoid another volley of shurikens thrown my Orochimaru, and bumped into a tree. The slight distraction put himself only a centimeter away from a passing by shuriken that whizzed past his face. He only barely managed to avoid it.

Sasuke, meanwhile, was standing motionless in front of his coffin, not having been ordered to do anything yet. Naruto didn't understand what Orochimaru had summoned him for, if he wasn't going to use Sasuke. Surely, Orochimaru knew that the boy was useless to fight with, as he was so unskilled against the current nins on the field.

It suddenly hit Naruto what was going on when a second Orochimaru appeared from around the tree to try and slash him in two. "Two Orochimarus? When did this happen?"

He landed on a tree, leaving the two clones below while he quickly thought, and quickly he came to the answer. Orochimaru had performed two simultaneous summonings. He summoned Sasuke and the Snake that trapped Naruto in the same instant. One summoning was done by a clone, while the other was done by the real one, in an attempt to make him concentrate on just one, the Sasuke summoning.

"It was all a diversionary tactic," said Naruto to the Orochimarus below. "You just used Sasuke for a distraction!"

"He's figured it out so quickly," said one of the two below. "He's a quick one!"

"Yes," said the other. "We shouted our summonings at the same time so you'd only really hear the phrase once, not catching on to the summoning of the snake behind you that you couldn't see."

"That means you've had a bunshin in the trees for a while, have you?"

"I told you he was quick," said Orochimaru.

"Shut up you bastard!" yelled Naruto. He performed a few hands seals and held both open palms to his side. In the open space gathered a swirling ball of blue chakra in each hand.

Orochimaru's eyes widened. "It took Jiraiya a long time to master the Resengan in both hands."

Naruto darted out form the branch he was standing on and descended on the two side by side Orochimarus. He thrust one into each stomach, and they were thrown backwards with swirling vortexes in their wake. Each hit a tree, and one exploded into smoke.

The real one was struggling to stand. "That was a powerful one. You continue to surprise me."

"If you'd stop underestimating me, you'd not be so surprised!" yelled Naruto. He ran forward as he formed a Kage Bunshin to run by his side. Again, he performed several hand seals, these too fast for Orochimaru to follow. It was a new move he'd not seen before.

In a flash, a doppelganger was on either side of Orochimaru, leaving him surrounded. "Chakra Release! Barrier No Justu!"

A blue dome of wavy energy sprang from around them and formed with Orochimaru as its center. "What's this?" asked Orochimaru, looking around at it. "Seals us in and everyone else out?"

"He's figured it out so quickly," mocked one of the Bunshins. Both Naruto's laughed. "You're trapped in here with me, and there's no room for summoning I'm afraid. Your snake and Sasuke are locked out."

"Clever boy," said Orochimaru. "Not clever enough though. You took your eyes off the little lady."

Naruto turned on his heels, instantly thinking of Sakura. As he was halfway into his turn, he heard a blood curdling scream of pain that sounded all too much like the kunoichi's.

Sasuke's electrified left hand was completely through Sakura's chest. The Chidori had torn through her flesh with ease. "Sakura!" screamed Naruto. His doppelganger was detonated as Orochimaru had taken this distraction for opportunity. This dropped the barrier, as it required both creators to be conscious.

Sasuke ripped his arm out of Sakura, sending an arc of blood spraying into the air. Naruto watched, horrified, as the body fell to the ground slowly and gracefully. As soon as Sakura hit the ground, Naruto felt the sensation of just waking up from a dream, and he stared as Sakura ran head long into battle against Kabuto, charging chakra into her hands.

Sasuke, meanwhile stood still near his coffin. Sakura was still alive, and nothing had happened?

_**We were hit by a genjutsu while thinking we only needed to worry about that when fighting Itachi.**_

Naruto realized Kyuubi was right immediately. Orochimaru had terribly deceived him. He had been distracted into releasing the barrier no jutsu. "Damn you Orochimaru!" yelled the boy as he turned on his heel to spring back into the fight.

Orochimaru wasn't there. "Where the hell are you?" he asked randomly into the woods.

Sakura leapt into the air and punched with a wild haymaker at Kabuto, who had to raise both his hands to repel the chakra-enhanced mega punch. He flipped backwards and sprang back forward, cutting at the air with his scalpel fingers. Sakura saw he was faster than she had anticipated and had to immediately block both of his hands, though she was forcibly pushed back.

Gaara's sand flew into the air and caught Kabuto by the leg, causing him to stumble as he attempted to pursue Sakura. The kunoichi took this for an opening and thrust her hand forward toward Kabuto's exposed chest. Her karate-chop scratched the surface, cutting his shirt open and leaving a thin line of blood in its wake.

"Naturally, a medi nin trained by Tsuande," said Kabuto. "You are very lucky to have received such training. It has made you stronger than the last time I saw you."

"Can it," said Sakura. "Gaara, leave Kabuto to me. You're not suited to fight a specialist like him."

Gaara didn't like being told to stand down by a kunoichi he barely knew, but he got the hint Sakura was trying to impose. She was meaning for him to save his strength for the battle later, as he couldn't fight well without the Shukkaku's aid.

"Brave little girl," said Kabuto, blocking a punch and counter attacking with his own. Sakura ducked under it and punched with a solid uppercut that landed squarely in Kabuto's jaw. He flew into the air and landed on his back.

"I'm not the fearful little girl you watched in the Chuunin exams," said Sakura. "I've become much stronger."

"I see," said Kabuto, rising and wiping the blood from his face. "Tsunade's super human strength resides in you after all. Your punches live up to her prestige." Kabuto threw a kunai as he ran at Sakura. She arched backwards in an evade and dodged it with ease, but as she came up, she was met with a solid counter from Kabuto, and she was punched hard in the stomach. She staggered backwards as she raised an arm to block a scalpel attack coming her way.

It cut her arm, and she winched with pain, but she had her free arm ready for a counter of her own. Her scalpel shot forward and sliced open the enemy's right shoulder. As Kabuto recoiled, she jumped forward with a twirling kick. It landed across his face, causing him to fly, spinning in the air. He quickly recovered and landed on his own feet though. He smirked.

"And so begins out own fight," he said. "I'll just have to extend my range a bit." He gathered chakra around his arms, and Sakura noticed the size of his chakra scalpels greatly expand to two feet long. It was like his karate chops would now be devastating sword attacks.

She gulped nervously. She imagined if only she had more chakra stamina she would've easily been able to that. However, she didn't have a lot of chakra to work with even when at full strength.

Naruto threw a shuriken into the bushes at the slightest hint of movement. Orochimaru was hiding somewhere, and he couldn't find him. "I'll help," said Gaara, coming to stand next to him. Naruto just realized that Sakura was fighting Kabuto alone, but couldn't find time to worry about her at the moment. No, he trusted she would do fine. She could handle herself.

Gaara's sand poured into the ground as he performed a few hand seals. The sand went surging underground. "It's homing sand," said Gaara. "It finds and tell me where a target I'm looking for is hiding."

Gaara turned his head sharply as he found Orochimaru. "Seventeen meters that way." Naruto threw a pair of kunai exactly at Gaara's designated spot. He heard them hit home with the blood spilling "squelch" a blade makes when piercing flesh.

Orochimaru emerged from the trees with both kunai imbedded in his forearm. "Nice work boys. Now tell me, am I to be fighting the both of you at once now?"

Naruto and Gaara took their respective battle poses and prepared as Orochimaru tore the daggers out of his skin with no evident sign of pain on his face.

"Let's go, Orochimaru," said Naruto in a growl.

"I'm afraid Orochimaru won't be going anywhere other than the afterlife," said a cold voice in the wind. It was like the voice was everywhere around him.

"Banninshment No Jutsu!" said the same voice tonelessly. Suddenly, the snake nearby disintegrated into thin air. Sasuke followed with it, fading into nothingness.

"That voice is unmistakable," said Naruto, looking around frantically. "Itachi."

Orochimaru was looking around, fear finally visible on his face. Gaara's eyes were darting around, though his body didn't move at all.

They felt a gust of wind surround them. Kabuto and Sakura had stopped fighting as well. The wind was cold and chilling to the bone. Naruto looked over at Orochimaru just as Itachi materialized behind the sannin.

"Hello, Orochimaru," said Itachi. Orochimaru's eyes widened in terrible realization that he was dead. Without moving, Itachi somehow managed to make Orochimaru's body separate into four pieces, sliced cleanly into segments with invisible speed and ability. The blood spray didn't faze him in the least.

"Greetings, Naruto-kun, and Gaara of the Sand," said Irachi from behind his raised collar. "I thank you for leading me here. I really had no idea, however, that I'd be taking _two_ Bijuus with me today."

Naruto gritted his teeth. Evidently, he wasn't Itachi's only target. Gaara seemed to come to the same realization, though he showed no signs of shock or even acknowledgement.

"Prepare yourselves," said Itachi. "Today, you boys die."

Naruto grinned, and despite Gaara's best efforts, so did he.

"Yeah, we know," said Naruto.

* * *

End Chapter Eighteen

* * *

So, sorry about Sasuke really doing nothing. Like Orochimaru was explaining, he was just a diversion for catching Naruto by surprise. I hope you're not a bit pissed about me just leaving him to do nothing. So, yeah, things might be getting good in the future. I have to really think this battle out, so give me a few days. It'll take some time, but I'm thinking the battle will be at least two chapters, maybe even three, with a nice little ending chapter after that. I've already got a new fic idea in my head too for when I finish this, a new NaruSaku fic.


	19. It's Time to Get Serious

This chapter was hell. It took me from about twelve-thirty AM to three-thirty AM. I did some researching things and whatnot and tried to make sure this battle went perfectly.  
As for that, well, I'm not terribly impressed with the battle at all. I don't think I did it right. See my notes at the end for a full author notes. But for the general description, I'll just say I made the battle seem way to simple in my opinion.

* * *

Chapter Nineteen

* * *

"Are you ready, Naruto?" asked Gaara.

"Yeah," replied Naruto plainly. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be." _Kyuubi, it's time to get serious. Are you ready?_

_**Do not be concerned with my well-being, Naruto. You have yourself to worry about.**_

_How do you propose we go about this?_

_**The Iris is absolutely necessary from now until the end. Don't worry. It doesn't consume any chakra at all. It's just a part of my anatomy, not a doujutsu or anything like the Sharingan, which is a chakra draining technique.**_

_And you're sure it will protect me from his Sharingans?_

**_Naruto, my dead boy, it will seem like he doesn't even _have_ Sharingans, Mengekyou or no._**

_Good. Let's get down to business then._

"Acitvate! The Nine-Tails Iris!" said Naruto. For half a second, nothing happened as Itachi appraised him sardonically as though he'd lost his mind. A gentle breeze howled through the trees, adding to the awkward nothingness of the moment.

And then all hell broke loose.

Red chakra exploded in all directions around Naruto, chakra hotter than the hottest flames and brighter than the most intense star. With difficulty, Gaara, Itachi, and Sakura ducked and covered themselves as best as they could from the debris and heat swirling from the spot that was Naruto. They protected their eyes from being blinded, having to look away.

When the light had died out, there was still a light, subtle roaring sound, like the sound a great fire makes as the flames dance. They looked up to see Naruto, standing plainly and facing Itachi squarely, his arms at his side. He was looking down, as though he were merely sleeping on his feet.

"_The chakra levels are unprecedented!" _Itachi screamed inside his head. _"No doubt, this is the work of the Kyuubi. Such power… Has the Kyuubi taken over!"_

"_Stronger than me?" _asked Gaara to himself mockingly_. "Am I an idiot! We're not even in the same ball park. Hell, I'm not even on his planet in terms of power. Just standing too close… It's killing me."_

"_Naruto," _thought Sakura_. "This is the power that will kill you?"_ Tears started to fall from Sakura's eyes as her vision blurred. She didn't want to watch. She crouched half behind a tree, turning her head.

"No, I must watch," she said. "I owe to him to watch him fight like this. I will watch him every moment of this fight." She returned her gaze to Naruto's location, where he still stood lazily, though breathing deeply.

Naruto looked up at Itachi. Itachi looked closely at the face of the blonde boy. His fange were bared, and his whiskers were of course much more prominent. And then he saw the boy's eyes.

Itachi hadn't been surprised much in his lifetime. This, actually, was probably the first time he'd experienced true shock and dismay. Naruto didn't have normal eyes. Itachi knew he was looking into the eyes of the demon inside him. Naruto's eyes had transformed to gold, round irises with black slits in the middle, completely dilated. Around the Irisies, what should've been the whites of his eyes were blood red. Naruto was growling.

"This is the power that will kill me, Itachi," said Naruto demonically. "Unfortunately for you, it will also be what kills the last of the Uchiha Clan. I'm sorry to mock you, but I have to say it. 'Prepare yourself. Today, Itachi, you die.'"

Itachi didn't doubt for a second that, if he wasn't extremely cautious and speculative, he very well might end up in trouble.

"Gaara, it's time that you bring out the Shukkaku," said Naruto. "There will be no holding back from this moment forward. It's time to get serious."

Gaara held his two fingers up in a prayer-like form in front of his face. Yellow chakra glowed around him as sand poured itself from the gourd and surrounded Gaara. "Naruto, this is the most optimum from my demon can take while I remain in control of it. Much like you, I won't change in physical appearance. However, I'm not sure how long I will remain myself… If I… try to turn on you, kill me."

Naruto smirked as he snorted, facing Itachi still. "I'll do that," he replied. Gaara's eyes turned to the same killer pupils he had when possessed by the Shukkaku. However, different from those years ago when he had attacked Konoha, Gaara was both Shukkaku and Gaara at the same time, like Naruto was with Kyuubi.

Instead of Shukkaku being in control of the power, Gaara had meditated for a long time to gain the calm and collected manor to remain in power. "It's time, Naruto."

"Good," growled the blonde. "Ready, Itachi?"

Itachi confidently took his battle stance under the great Akatsuki black cloak. His eyes flashed for a second, and the crimson red pupils with the bladed fan in them, the Mangokyou Sharingans, activated. Naruto smiled. Now was as good a time as ever to test his new ability.

"I remember fighting several members of your clan, back in my day long ago when I fought to destroy Konoha," said Naruto with a sick smile on my face. "Let me assure you now that I am just as adept at resisting your clan's techniques, such as your Katons, as I was back then. It would be foolish of you to attempt to use them against me now."

"I assume you are both the Kyuubi and Naruto now," said Itachi. He managed to smile, not betraying what he was truly feeling. "Unexpected, but still not enough to defeat me. Even if you are the Kyuubi, you're held back by the limitations of the human form."

"Am I now?" asked Naruto. Itachi's eyes widened horrifyingly. He blinked. Naruto was gone. He didn't even leave behind a residual image. There was no movement of the wind to betray his movements or speed. He was just gone, without a trace.

_ABOVE!_

Itachi looked up as Naruto swung his leg down in an axe-kick with speed he'd never seen. He hadn't even time to interpret his Sharingan's suggestions. He took the foot right to the face, and the blow knocked him straight backwards, until his back cracked on something hard.

The Shukkaku's sand tail had whacked him back towards Naruto, now standing solidly on the ground, ready for the flying Akatsuki agent. Itachi saw for a brief moment that Naruto was preparing a round house kick that would hit him on his left. He was in flight, so there was no chance of dodging. He'd have to block. He rose both arms to take the blow in place of his side, but Naruto saw the block coming, as Itachi had raised his guard before he'd even risen a leg to strike.

Naruto's retaliation was a round house kick to Itachi's _right side._ Itachi fell hard into a tree, shattering it into thousands of slivers and splinters. Itachi stood up and coughed up blood. His Sharingan hadn't worked! How was that possible?

"_Did I misinterpret it, reading it wrong?" _he thought to himself. _"I must've underestimated him. There's no way he can overpower the Mangokyou Sharingans. I just let him get too close…" Itachi prepared a few hand seals._

"_Kokuangyo no Jutsu!" _he exclaimed, thrusting both his hands forward. Naruto felt a cold, dampness in the air as he seemed to be losing his sight. It started to grow darker and darker. This was the darkness technique, used to completely blind the enemy in pitch blackness with genjusu. Kyuubi's eyes flashed, and the darkness wasn't even allowed to grow any further. Naruto smiled.

"You no doubt are having trouble seeing, Naruto-kun," said Itachi. "This technique blinds the enemy completely to its surroundings-

"Shut up," growled Naruto, arming a kunai in his right hand. "I can see your pitiful form just fine, thank you very much." He dashed straight at Itachi, who retreated to a tree limb. The limb was cut into pieces by a large, slawed hand, owned by Gaara's transformed arm.

"How did you do that?" asked Itachi. "The Kokuangyo is not a Genjutsu that can just be released by the victim. Even the third fell victim to that against the pitiful Orochimaru. There's no way you could just see through that."

"You mistake me for a human, dear Itachi," said Naruto in his uncharacteristic growl. He glared over at Itachi, still standing on the ground after having recovered from his tree being reduced to nothing.

"Fine," said Itachi. He did a few hands seals again, as fast as lightning.

"Combing a few simple techniques to try and make them stronger!" yelled Naruto as Itachi finished.

"Katon: Karyuu Endan Kakuro!" Itachi held his fingers to his lips, where he spat a long column of black fire into a massive wall that quickly converged on Naruto and surrounded him. It rapidly closed in on him and exploded with massive destructive force that made even Itachi have to cover his eyes. (This is two techniques, the Karyuu Endan and Kakuro. Karyuu is a massive, red hot fire wall for making sure the opponent cannot escape. Kakuro is a fire technique that creates flames that are black and demonic, though they are much much hotter than any other of the fire techniques.)

Naruto stood completely protected under a blue barrier of bright chakra. He was smiling wickedly.

"He knew what I was doing before I even finished it," said Itachi, his face not moving at all to betray his surprise. "He doesn't have Sharingans though."

"I told you," said Naruto darkly. "I fought members of your clan long ago when they fought as protectors of Konohakagure. I know all of the clan's attacks very well, as well as every attack that has been thrown at me, even the ones used against Naruto. It seems this Chakra barrier was all I needed to combat your old abilities, even if they were combined attacks."

Itachi's Sharingans swirled. "It's a new ability. Useful, no doubt… but… it requires two people to work!"

Two gigantic, clawed arms reached up from the dirt and clawed at Itachi. The Shukkaku's arms had burst from the ground, while Gaara stood several yards away. Itachi saw that his sand arms were actually imbedded into the ground.

The claws only scratched pieces of his cloak as he retreated high into the air with his super jump. "Resengan!" he heard from above.

He looked up just in time to see Naruto falling from above with a ball of blue energy swirling in his right hand. Itachi twisted at the last second as Naruto fell past him, but turning around, he saw that another Naruto below him had followed him into the air.

"So fast!" he said to himself as he watched the Naruto previously above him lock arms with the one that had followed him. The pair twisted into a spin, and the Naruto with the Resengan was thrown back up into the air at Itachi.

The ball hit home with powerful force. Naruto it was the strongest Resengan he had ever thrown, thanks toe the Kyuubi' help. Itachi exploded into smoke and flames. It was a doppelganger, a basic clone made of fire. When he had performed a Katon Bunshin, Naruto didn't know. Naruto was still in his blue dome below.

He looked around for Itachi. He knew that, with these new Nine Tail Irises, he would undoubtedly find him fast. However, Itachi found him first. The ground crumbled beneath him as Naruto's ankle was grabbed by Itachi' hand from the ground.

"Inner Decapitation Technique!"

Chakra surrounded Naruto and pulled him forcefully into the ground so that he was buried to his neck in the ground. Another Itachi appeared out of the ground inside the barrier and ran at him with a long sword katana, ready to behead the blonde.

The Naruto that had previously performed Resengan fazed through the blue wall and slammed into Itachi's back with yet another Resengan, causing them both to explode into fire and smoke. Two Narutos were out in the open, and one was underground.

Itachi exploded from the earth, sending dirt and rocks in the air. As he landed, he performed several more handseals. Again, Naruto knew what was to come, but it didn't stop him from being shocked nonetheless.

Both of Itachi's hands glowed blue with electricity, a rumbling sound like a thousand birds flooding the air. Naruto's hair stood on end. The only way Naruto figured that Itachi could've acquired Chidori and mastered it was in using the Sharaingans against his little brother years ago.

Itachi ran at Naruto's submereged body. They were both in the barrier, and Naruto's other Bunshin was too far away to help him. He had to work fast. Gathering more red chakra to his feet, he pushed himself out of the ground with a powerful jump, sending him upward just before the Chidori attack passed him from below. Itachi stopped his momentum severely and twisted his body to face upward. He punched upward with both hands toward Naruto.

He had little time to waste as he rapidly prepared a Resengan in each hand. Both pairs of hand met and exploded into each other with blue-on-blue fire and lightning. They stood in suspended animation like that for several seconds, their Chakra pushing against each other continuously to see who would buckle first.

Itachi went down on one knee, continuing to try and fight. He didn't know why, but he was no looking good in this fight. For the first time in his life… Itachi was afraid he was actually going to die.

Finally, the Chakra levels became too much for either of them to control, and a great explosion resulted. It was so powerful that it shut down the blue barrier that had locked them in, causing it to just evaporate as the blast incinerated any nearby trees.

Naruto and Itachi were both on one knee, facing each other and breathing heavily, painfully.

"_Kyuubi, what's going on? I'm not feeling so good."_

_**You're almost out of time, Naruto-kun. You're about to die.**_

_I can't. I need more time. I'm not done yet._

_**You have to hurry it up. I'm not trying to send you to your grave quicker, but if you don't resolve this within the next five to ten minutes, you'll die. You only have that long.**_

Itachi, meanwhile, was thinking other things. _"How is he that strong? Not on training alone did he become so powerful. Something's not right. I missed something. It's like I'm not fighting Naruto. I'm fighting the Kyuubi. He's somehow managed to completely become one with the demon fox, like he's fused with it so that they are the best of both realms, human and demon."_

Itachi spat a mouthful of blood onto the soil.

"I'll let you in on a little secret, Itachi," said Naruto, standing up and smiling. "I am dying, and it has nothing to do with you possibly killing me. If you want my demon so bad, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed, because this demon will have killed me by the time this battle is over."

"What?" asked Itachi, also standing up, though visibly it looked painful to do so.

"That's right," said Naruto. "The Kyuubi is too strong for my body anymore, and I will die very soon, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. The same is true of Gaara."

"So that's why you tried to lure me out here," said Itachi, smiling in spite of his fear. "You want to go down with a bang, as they say. You want to die a heroic death."

"You're mistaken," said Gaara. "There is no thought of heroism in this battle. Naruto and I are fighting without resolve with no thought of our own glory on the line. There's no heroism about this battle. This is just us wanting to do you in before we have to be done in by ourselves."

"Got the picture?" asked Naruto. "Now, you can die knowing your efforts to gain power through us were completely futile, because when we go, so do out Bijuus."

"Tell me something," said Itachi. "How did you suddenly become so powerful? I'm not fool. The Kyuubi has something to do with you unprecedented strength."

"You fool!" shouted Naruto. "I _am_ the Kyuubi as well as Naruto. I am not just one warrior! You've been fighting the demon fox all this time. I am no longer limited to the human form's capacity. The chakra I am using is all mine, all demonic, because Naruto has no reserves about living anymore. He knows he will die!"

Itachi's eyes widened again in that horror stricken way. "You're understanding now, aren't you?" asked Naruto. "I am no longer just Naruto, using the Kyuubi's power to help. I am both Naruto and Kyuubi as one warrior. There's no possession going on here, and there's no tapping into the chakra of another person to boost strength a little. We are two minds fused as one. Naruto knows everything the demon knows. The demon's chakra is now Naruto's chakra as well. The demon's abilities…"

Naruto performed a long series of whirlwind handseals. Itachi wasn't even able to comprehend them or see them, even with the Mangokyou's help. "are also Naruto's abilities."

"Oni Ninpou: Nine Tails Sweep!" Means, "Demon Ninja Technique: Nine Tails Sweep

* * *

End Chapter Nineteen

* * *

I'm not very good with cliffhangers, thinking that I could've left you with something a little more suspense-filled with this. Anyway, this battle is very hard to write out, because I want it to not look so easy for Naruto. I want it to seem like he has a clear advantage while making it seems that Itachi isn't a pushover. I mean, these are powerful nins, and I'm trying to make it seem as though Gaara isn't just sitting on the side line either. Like I said, this is way difficult.

Anyway, the next chapter will be the end of it. The end of the battle will actually some very quickly in the next chapter I think. People will die. That's multiple people, multiple deaths. I'm not even exactly sure how I'm going to get everything done, but I'll throw out some of the parts I'm expecting to use.

Naruto has to transfer the demon consequences to Itachi with an ability granted to him by the Iris, but Itachi has to be near death and held down or unconscious/unable to move. Again, I don't want Itachi to be just defeated with ease, so it will be difficult, and Gaara will probable be needed for this.

Anyway, I'm sure I screwed up some things along the line with ninjutsus or genjutsus or something. Frankly, though I usually do like to hear people's corrections, I'm going to respectfully say that I don't want to hear it for this or the next chapters. If I screwed up a jutsu name or the proper way to perform it, I just don't care. I'm sorry, but it's just the way this story will be.

Some things I am sure of: The genjutsu used against Naruto to put him in darkness is indeed 100 right on this one. I researched it and all the other technique names diligently if they previously existed in the series. However, there were probably a few parts I wasn't sure of exactly on their validity. But the data on that genjutsu is exact, like how it can't just be dispelled, because you'll recall even the third Hokage having trouble against this one against Orochimaru and his summoned zombies. Fortunately, Naruto's Iris is an immunity to genjutsus.

So don't take me for an arrogant person who doesn't want to be told he's wrong. Normally I respectfully take the advice and try to act on it accordingly to make sure it's right. But this one time, I'm going to say that I don't want to hear the proper way to say something or the proper way to perform something. This is not a reflection on previous reviews at all either. I'm tired, it's three-thirty AM, and I'm sure that in my drowsy stupor I screwed up a few things here and there.


	20. Is This Really The End?

I'm not going to say anything for the opening notes other than this.

_"monkies"_

Thank you.

* * *

Chapter Twenty

* * *

"Oni Ninpou! Nine Tails Sweep!" screamed Naruto, crossing his fingers and hands after finishing the performance of intricate handseals. As though Naruto actually had nine tails, a harem of red, firey, glowing tails of chakra sprang from behind him and instantly lashed out toward Itachi. Their speed was blinding. He could only just register the catastrophic force that those tails had before he acted. 

"_It is said that just one tail of the Kyuubi had enough power to make an entire village vanish,"_ he recalled hearing from his youth. He started up a few handseals to prepare for the strike.

"Not fast enough!" yelled Naruto as the tails drove home. They pinned him to a large tree behind him, which buckled but barely remained erect, cracks and splinters forming a spider web behind the tree where the force had followed through.

Itachi coughed in pain. Naruto glared at him with a sick, hungry look in his eye. "Yeeesssss," said Naruto in a hiss. "You're mine now Itachi. Can you feel it? Have you ever felt it before? You know… _fear?_"

Itachi struggled against his tightly bound red cords of chakra, holding him together. They constricted around him, struggling him. The tails separated from Naruto and focused on tightly bounding the Itachi to the tree.

"Now, Itachi, you die," said Naruto, forming a bright ball of chakra in his hand. Though normally blue, it started to spark with red energy. The Kyuubi's influence on this attack was surely enough to not just knock an opponent into a spiral, but instead probably obliterate whatever it hit.

Naruto dashed forward, his arm hauled back and ready to strike. He was almost there. Itachi's look was priceless. He was going to die. There was no chance of survival. This was it.

_**Wait a second! **Yelled the Kyuubi. **It's not Itachi! Don't!**_

Naruto registered the Kyuubi's advice barely in time enough to swerve to the side and pass by the tree to which Itachi was supposedly bound, instead hitting another tree behind it a ways, causing it to explode and incinerate. No trace of the tree was left, save for a stump, standing a foot off the ground.

Naruto turned around to see what was the matter just as a fist smacked into his face, pummeling him backwards through a series of trees. Naruto stood up just in time to dodge another punch and kick follow-up, flipping over Itachi's head and landing behind him. He retreated a few steps to put some distance between himself and Itachi.

"_What the fuck?" _he yelled to himself. _"Bunshin no jutsu?"_

**_Try again. It's a very well-used combination of Kawarimi no Jutsu and some kind of Henge… Look at Itachi before you. He's the real one. The one tied to the tree isn't Itachi._**

Naruto, or rather, the Kyuubi, knowing a spell for the occasion, held an open hand toward the tree. "Harasu," he muttered calmly. (Harasu is Japanese for "Dispel")

The image of Itachi instantly burst into smoke, and as the smoke cleared, Gaara's body appeared, frozen in place, his eyes unmoving, though his chest rising and falling with life. **_He teleported himself with Gaara's body in place, and then he used an advanced Henge to make the Gaara into a perfect copy of himself… I almost didn't catch it. That's what the handseals were for just as he got hit._**

"Using Gaara like that," said Naruto. "You scum. What did you do to him?" Gaara indeed seemed to be paralyzed for some reason, unable to move, not on account of the tails that held him.

"It's a paralysis technique," said Itachi plainly. "No biggie. It was necessary to keep him from spoiling that it was him and not me." Itachi snapped his fingers, and life returned to Gaara.

"How about freeing me now," said Gaara coldly. Naruto waved his hand, and the nine tails of the Kyuubi evaporated into the air. Gaara, freed now, dusted himself off, and then transformed both of his arms into the clawed, massive arms of the Shukkaku. His eyes converted again.

"I'm almost out of time," said Gaara to Naruto. "I'll have to hurry so you can finish him off quickly. Otherwise, you'll die."

"Gaara?" asked Naruto quickly.

"Don't sweat it, Naruto," said Gaara monotonously. "I know about the slim odds of you living. I'll help you."

"How… how can you-

"Shukkaku is a little familiar with the Kyuubi, he tells me," said Gaara. "He tells me they were sort of… old pals. He know about the Iris… He figures that's what your power is coming from, and that Kyuubi might've suggested you could use it to live."

_**Good ole' Shukkaku knows his stuff.**_

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," said Naruto. "I should've, and I wanted to-

"Don't try to explain yourself, Naruto," said Gaara, holding up a hand to silence him. "I understand. Nonetheless, it doesn't help me out any, as there's still no hope for me. So I'll help you."

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Itachi. "Are you done speaking in foreign tongues, because I believe it was you who said your fight had to end soon."

Naruto looked at Itachi confusedly. **_You dumbass, _**said Kyuubi. **_You and Gaara are speaking in a code that only we demons know. It's a demon dialect, ancient. That way, Itachi isn't on to the fact that there's a chance you might survive this. You had no idea you were even speaking like this, only you were hearing your human tongue._**

"_Clever. Nonetheless, Itachi's right. We've got a battle to finish."_

"Alright Gaara," said Naruto, though he wasn't sure still what language he was speaking. Gaara seemed to understand him though, as he gave an approving nod and faced Itachi squarely.

"Suna Bunshin no Jutsu," muttered Gaara. Out of the earth exploded several clones of himself make entirely of sand. Naruto had heard that a technique like this was used by Gaara a long time ago. The clones burst forward, leaving trails of sand in the air behind them. Gaara followed them, his clawed hands bared for killing.

The clones simultaneously struck Itachi with their own massive arms, but Itachi jumped away with speed no one didn't expect. Behind his retreat, he was cut off by the real Gaara though, which caught one of his legs and swung him like a mallet into the ground.

Itachi landed on his two hands safely and twisted his other leg into the air at Gaara's head, where it hit with enough speed and force to blast right past his automatic sand defense. Gaara stumbled backwards, but his arm stayed attached to Itachi's leg, and he swung his other hand in a haymaker strike.

The blow hit home, but surprisingly, Itachi seemed unfazed. Itachi drove one of his hands down and chopped right through the sand arm that held his own leg down. Gaara recoiled in pain as the sand began to already heal the wound and reform his arm.

"Your arms, though big, do not pack any power in them," stated Itachi.

"Then try this on for size!" yelled Naruto. Itachi received a hard punch to the side of his face as he tried to turn around and dodge. His time spent trying to get out of Gaara's grip had apparently been for the worse.

Itachi was crushed into a hard tree that fell over with his impact, and he fell down to his knees, coughing up blood. That was the hardest hit he'd received in a long time, if not ever. Naruto had broken Itach's jaw.

Naruto cracked his knuckled menacingly. "Broke your jaw, did I?" he asked, baring those horrifying fangs. "That's not all that will be broken when I'm done with you." Naruto performed the familiar hand seal that screamed the soon to come arrival of some Naruto clones.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he said with gusto. Ten clones of himself appeared in a wall in front of him. "Now! Take Itachi down!"

"_Why is he beating me?" _Itachi asked of himself. _"He's somehow fooled my Sharingans. Why can't I accurately tell what's going on? It's like he too can see the future that I see… Even his taijutsu is able to take me down. It's not like he's moving faster than the eyes can see. It's just… I can't see what's really going to happen."_

Five of the doppelgangers surrounded Itachi, while the other five jumped skyward to attack from above.

"Here it comes!" they all yelled.

"U-ZU-MA-KI!" they yelled, pronouncing each syllable as two clones performed a close range attack. They came in pairs as Itachi received everything from punches and jabs to sweeping kicks and powerful haymkers.

"NARUTO!" they yelled, almost ready to finish the combo. "_RENDAN!_"

The real Naruto burst form behind the crowd right into Itachi's stomach with both hands, open palmed, thrust forward. Itachi felt like he was falling backwards in slow motion, his blood flowing like a fountain into the air from his mouth.

He fell on his back onto the ground, with eyes wide open as he struggled to breath. That blow had practically done him in. He didn't even see it coming. It was too fast, too strong. He was going to die. There was no way he could live if Naruto didn't succumb to the Kyuubi before he was killed by Naruto.

He barely managed to stand. "You can still fight," said Naruto. "Good. I was almost disappointed that you wouldn't put up a last effort before you died."

"You… will die… too," Itachi managed to gurgle from his broken jaw. "A new… technique… for you…"

Itachi performed a single basic pair of handseals. "Ganjigarame no Jutsu," he choked. Not even Kyuubi knew what was coming, but from the sound of the name, it was something that had to do with being imprisoned or bound. (Ganjigarame translates to "binding")

But there was no time to move. Unfortunately, the jutsu was an instantaneous one, an attack that took literally no time to take affect. Naruto instantly realized that he was rooted to the spot. He could not move, no matter how strong or how powerful he was. Not even the Kyuubi's phenomenal Chakra output was enough to overpower this jutsu. He couldn't even perform any kind of jutsu to escape. If only he'd been able to get in a Kawarimi before he'd been hit…

"You're stuck, Naruto," choked Itachi, finally managing to put some laughter in his voice. "I've been watching your Chakra levels and movements while we fight, and judging with the way your Chakra is changing, I'd say you have only a minute or two until you die. You have failed your mission, Uzumaki, and there's not hope of escape, because this jutsu not only tightly bounds you, but it gets stronger based on how strong its victim's strength. The stronger you are… the stronger it gets."

Naruto was not only impressed by the strength of the jutsu, but he was also impressed by the fact that Itachi could still talk with the broken jaw. He must've been really fighting the pain.

"_What can I do Kyuubi?"_

_**I… don't know. I've never heard of this jutsu before. It's a new one on me. Must be an original. I can't even help you one bit. Like he said, it's so strong because we're so strong. It can't be helped.**_

"Oh no," said Sakura desperately. "It's over. If what Itachi says is true…"

"Naruto!" yelled Gaara. Itachi turned to look in Gaara's direction as the red-haired nin performed several hand seals that told him instantly what he was about to do. However, with the distance and timing, there was no way even Itachi could stop it in time.

"Kawarimi no jutsu!" exclaimed Gaara with a smirk. His body fazed from view while Naruto simultaneously did the same. In an instant, Gaara and Naruto had switched places, and Gaara was now bound by the Ganjigarame.

Gaara was smiled. "I hope that… helped you out… enough…" said Gaara painfully. "It's… apparently my time…" Gaara choked a few times, closing his eyes tightly in pain. "Don't just stand there!" he yelled at Naruto while the blonde boy watched him die. "Finish it quickly! Or else there won't be time for you to be saved!"

Itachi's eyes widened. He'd heard clearly just then that Naruto might be saved. It didn't matter much to him though. Naruto wasn't going to get that opportunity. Itachi performed the same set of hand seals as Naruto took Gaara's advice and ran full speed at Itachi.

"Oh no you don't!" he screamed, his eyes flashing again. "This is it!"

"Nirenpatsu Rasengan!" (More translating! This translates to "Double Barreled Rasengan!")

Naruto shoved both of red and blue balls of chakra into Itachi's exposed chest. It was a hit that struck home. Time slowed down as Itachi felt his insides being scrambled. He never specialized in anatomy, but he knew for sure that things were traveling to parts where they didn't belong. The Rasengans burned and twisted and spun around on the surface of his gut, and Itachi hung limp over Naruto's hands while all this was going on, his eyes wide and his mouth open.

He couldn't even scream.

Finally, the noise died down, and the feeling in his stomach stopped as Itachi felt himself being lifted off of his feet. He flew backwards, head over heel over head over heel, over and over and over again, until he completely lost track of what direction he was even headed. Finally the spinning sensation ended as he slammed hard into the ground and skidded to a halt just in front of a tree, spared from having to hit another one of those, as he was so accustomed as of late.

He couldn't breath. He didn't know if he was even alive or not, because his entire body was just frozen as he lay on his back, stuck in place, paralyzed. Naruto walked up to Itachi and knelt over his body, crouching over him closely.

"You heard correctly that I might live, Itachi," said Naruto almost quietly. "It's true that there's a chance, and I was thrilled to hear it. There's a chance that it might not work. Rest assured, however, that no matter my own fate…

"Yours is death."

Naruto raised a clawed hand, which began to glow red. "I'm going to attempt to spare myself while placing in you all the demonic negative energy I have received over the years. I have no doubt in my mind that this will hurt you more than you can ever even comprehend."

Naruto slammed his hand down into Itachi's stomach as the claws sank right through the cloth and into the flesh, spraying blood into the air. Itachi's grunted, trying to move, but this new attack seemed to only increase his paralysis. "Look into my eyes, Itachi," said Naruto, crouching lower over the victim.

Itachi helplessly looked up into the eyes of the Kyuubi, horrified. The slits narrowed, piercing his own eyes like a razor sharp knife, looking into his very own mind, into his soul, dare he say it. He was afraid. Very afraid. He could do nothing.

Their eyes were locked. Itachi began to get the sensation that he was about to experience something awful, and he was right on the money. He looked carefully and saw the face of the demon fox looking right at him. The fiery beast was swarming with chakra and flames. His teeth were ever so close to him. Those teeth would kill him with ease. Those horrible eyes were terrifying him to no end. He was looking into the Kyuubi now, no longer even aware that Naruto was still there over him.

He wanted to look away, but something was preventing him from breaking eye contact. This was no genjutsu even. This was merely fear-induced hell. Itachi screamed hard and long, unable to get a grip of himself. His terror-laced shrieks of agony pierced through the whole of the forest. Birds were shaken from their trees by the disturbance. Animals ran in fear of the beast that made such a sound.

He screamed and screamed until he could scream no more, becoming aware of a hot feeling deep in him. It hurt. Something foreign was inside him, something that didn't agree with him at all. It was tearing him apart, clawing at his mind, breaking him apart with ease, devouring his very soul. He shrieked even more, finally managing to bring his hands to his forehead, gripping his hair and yelling at the pain. He clawed and ripped at his own face, driven by terror and unbearable pain.

Naruto watched with disgust as Itachi rolled around on the ground, screaming and tearing himself apart while the Kyuubi was obviously causing him this pain. He could definitely feel a lot lighter than he had moments before. He felt cool and calm, no longer sensing the intense fire inside him.

The Kyuubi was gone. The transfer, evidently, was a success.

And then, finally, Itachi just stopped breathing, and he went limp on his back, his eyes, evidently still stricken with the pain and torment from a second ago, white. Naruto fell back on his but and looked at the man that lay dead before him.

"_Does this mean I will live?"_

Naruto started to stand up, but as soon as he got on one knee, weakness and fatigue overtook him, and he felt himself falling forward toward the ground.

"_Narutooo!"_ he heard. Sakura ran out and caught him in her arms just as his vision totally went black. If he was dying, it sure didn't feel too bad.

In fact, it felt relaxing, kinda like sleeping.

And though uneducated he was about death, he wasn't sure why he'd be dreaming about a box of Ichiraku Ramen hovering in front of him. Obviously, he assumed, this was what heaven was, or some kind of Utopia.

"Ah, Ramen," muttered Naruto, his voice echoing in his thoughts. "Just like from Ichiraku… I remember the last time I dreamed about you Ramen…" Naruto sniggered and suppressed a giggle. "And then I woke up, with Sakura-chan's lips pressed to mine. Ha, she sure showed _you_ up!"

His echoing words died instantaneously as he recognized a familiar feeling on his mouth… On his lips. The Ramen image in front of him was erased and replaced with intense, bright light.

He heard a feminine laugh, a giggle he recognized and loved so much. He was coming to his senses as he realized that he was just dreaming. He rubbed his eyes fiercely to shrug off the blindness that came from the unexpected awakening, and opened them as fully as he could, blinking and squinting through the light.

However, it wasn't hard to recognize the mess of pink hair over hovering over him and the face that the hair belonged to.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto whispered, smiling and closing his eyes again. "Oh, God, it's nice to see you again."

"Oh really," said Sakura, fighting back a laugh. "I'm pretty sure I just heard you talking to a box of Ramen in your dreams. Do you really place an edible higher on your list of priorities than _me_?"

"In my _dreams?_" asked Naruto. "You mean I'm awake as in alive? I'm not dead!"

"You're definitely alive and kicking, Naruto-kun," said Sakura. She laid her head down on his chest as she sighed. "And it's nice to see you too, Naruto… We thought you had died. As soon as you woke up I couldn't help myself but to kiss you again, like I did the _last_ time you placed a box of noodles higher than me."

"I thought I had died too," said Naruto, tilting his head up to look around. "But it appears I've landed in the freakin' hospital again. Hey what the hell am I doing in the forsaken place?"

"You've… been out of touch with reality for a while, Naruto," said Sakura weakly and quietly as she sat back up and looked down at Naruto. Apparently, as Naruto had just discovered, she was sitting in a bedside chair while he laid in the bed. "Comatose for a month actually."

"A _month?_" yelled Naruto, sitting up fully. "That long?"

Sakura was taken aback and thrown off in shock at Naruto's energetic outburst, having only just recovered from his unconscious state. "Naruto, lay back down."

"But I'm fine Sakura-chan," he whined, struggling against her arms, trying to avoid being pinned down.

"No, you have to rest."

"I've been resting for a month!" shouted Naruto. "I want to get up."

"Naruto, will you just chill out for a second!" shouted Sakura forcefully. Naruto stopped moving immediately and looked at Sakura hard. Her eyes were visibly fighting back tears.

"Sakura-chan… What's wrong?"

"Naruto, I thought you were dead," said Sakura. "Do you realize how hard that was, to watch you fall and die in my arms?" She started to sob, letting go of Naruto's wrists. "And then, when it became evident that you were barely breathing, I was still scared out of my mind. I got you in here to the hospital just in time for them to make sure you didn't die right there on the spot.

"But still, no one knew what to do with you," cried Sakura. "All we could do was wait and hope you would recover. There was nothing we could treat you with to help you. Do you know how hard that was? I woke up every day wondering if it was going to be only to find you dead in this bed. Naruto, I was so scared." She let her head fall onto Naruto's chest as she cried. "I thought you were going to die, Naruto-kun. I don't want you to leave me… _Don't you ever scare me like that again! You hear me!"_

Naruto placed a hand on Sakura's back and gently massaged her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. I promise I won't do that again." He lifted her up carefully by the shoulders as she dried her eyes with her wrists. He bent forward and placed his lips on her forehead and kissed it. "I'm sorry, Sakura. I didn't mean to scare you."

A day later, Naruto was released from the Hospital of Konoha, much to the nurses' delight, as the boy was constantly pestering them to let him out or get him out of there. They hastened with their checkups just so that they could oblige to his frantic requests, because they wanted him out of there just as much as he wanted to be out.

He stepped outside and inhaled a deep breath, closing his eyes and baking in the warmth of the sun. He couldn't stress to himself enough just how much he loved his home. He opened his eyes and looked at the people on the streets. They had stopped in their tracks, staring at him. They were normal, everyday, average joes, people he didn't know. So why were they looking at him in silence.

The entire street had stopped moving, like life had suddenly stopped to appraise Naruto. He looked up and down the road and sidewalks at them. He was used to getting "the look" by now, so why did this look suddenly make him feel strange?

And then, suddenly, a few people started clapping. One person here, and another person there, people scattered throughout the crowds. Others took notice and joined in, clapping their hands and smiling, cheering, until the whole street was filled with people clapping and applauding, shouting their praises and exhultations.

Naruto was shocked as he stood rooted to the spot, looking at the people, dumbfounded. He didn't even know these people. Sakura walked up behind him from the doors of the hospital, having just followed him out. She understood immediately, of course, the cause of the situation as she hastened to Naruto's side and took his hand.

Naruto asked, "Sakura-chan, what the hell is this? Who are all these people?"

Sakura smiled brightly and looked up a him. "You've become quite the hero recently, Naruto-kun. What'd you expect. These, my boy, are your adoring fans."

Naruto looked out at the people who were still cheering for him. "Three cheers for Uzumaki Naruto!" he heard one scream. "He's the hero!" "He's so brave!" "I can't believe I was afraid of him!" "He saved us all!" "Hip-Hip-Hooray!"

"We love you Naruto!" called an attractive female in the ranks. If looks could kill, Sakura would've killed the girl a thousand times over while inducing more pain than Itachi probably even felt in his last moment.

Naruto waved to them all suddenly, flashing his million-dollar-smile and laughing, his cheeks turning red. More people were filling the street to see what the commotion was about, and of course, once they noticed it was a spontaneous party for the Uzumaki Naruto, hero extraordinaire, they joined in with the cheering and celebrating.

It took Naruto forever to get past the crowds of people and slip past them all. He didn't really want to leave, actually, as he was greatly enjoying himself and all the praise, but he was told by Sakura that he needed to see the Hokage sometime soon.

So Naruto, using his cunning stealth and ninja abilities, slipped out unnoticed from all the people while leaving Sakura on his behalf. He later stood, a few minutes later, upside down, under the gutter of the roof overhanging the Hokage's window.

The window was open, and Naruto could clearly see that granny-Tsunade was working hard over a few papers and folders, writing and scribbling here, folding letters there, frantic with work as always.

"Hey there you old bat!" yelled Naruto with a friendly wave from the window.

"You rude little shit!" screamed Tsunade. "I ought to kill you right where you are!" She turned around in her chair to see Naruto standing upside down above her window so that only his face and shoulders were visible. She smiled. "Well, come on in, Naruto-kun."

Naruto easily flipped through the window and landed in front of Tsunade. She stood up, and they just faced each other for several seconds. "It's good to see you're alive now," she said finally. "We were beginning to think you'd kicked it back there."

"Speaking of kicking it, _granny_ Hokage, isn't it time you did so?" asked Naruto slyly. "I mean, how _old_ are you now? It's got to be about your time now."

"Why you little!" Naruto flinched as the Hokage barreled down on him. Instead of being creamed, though he was expecting it, he was scooped into a tight hug that was actually beginning to crush his spine. Tsunade wasn't the super strong sannin for nothing, as he already well knew. "I'm so glad you're alive, Naruto-kun," said Tsunade, letting go and allowing Naruto to breath. "You had me and a lot of people worried, you know?"

"So I heard," said Naruto.

"You know, it was uncalled for just running off like you did, going out for a suicide mission," said Tsunade hotly.

"Oh, you found out about that?" asked Naruto, rubbing the back of his head the way he always did when he was nervous or being funny.

"Sakura told us all about your fight," said Tsunade. "She spared me a lot of the details of the actual combat of the fight mind you, but she did explain to us about the Kyuubi supposedly killing you."

"Yeah, but I'm obviously still alive, aren't I," said Naruto with a laugh. "I hope I didn't disappoint anyone."

"Of course you didn't. I would, however, like to hear much more about your fight and how you actually did manage to live. I observed you in the hospital for a long time and found no traces of the Kyuubi in your body at all. The seal on you navel is gone as well. It left no traces at all of its existence, like it was never there before."

"So _that_'s why everyone was cheering," said Naruto suddenly. "They're glad to know the Kyuubi isn't in town anymore."

"That's nothing to do with it," said the Hokage sharply. "I could hear the cheers from in my office, and I happen to know that everyone in Konoha has been talking about you for the past month like there's nothing else _to_ talk about… In truth, it actually has been pretty boring around here, but you don't need to know anything about that. Naruto… While you've been in the hospital, once word got out that you did all the things you did against Akatsuki ad Orochimaru, you became the hero. You're the talk of the town kid. I've heard probably a thousand different stories about how you did it, how you killed them, but none of them can possibly be legit, because Sakura hasn't even taken the time to tell me anything more that a the basics, seeing as how she's been in the hospital 24/7."

"I'm… a hero?" asked Naruto.

"The biggest hero we've had in a long time, Naruto," relied Tsunade. "Congratulations. You've been acknowledged as the greatest ninja in Konoha. And now that you're alive, it's time to celebrate."

"Celebrate?" asked Naruto. "How do you propose we go about that?"

"The biggest party Konoha has ever seen, of course," replied Tsunade. "We'll have it tonight, so I'm pretty sure that should give everyone time to be informed and be there. It'll be a party in your honor, Uzumaki." Tsunade smiled.

Naruto smiled back as a tear fell from his eye. "I've… never been so happy, Tsunade-san," he said.

* * *

End Chapter Twenty

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Holy shit, twenty chapters! I didn't expect the story to be this long. I also didn't expect the chapter to be this long. It's twelve fuggin' pages without my notes. I mean, damn, that's a lot. Never written this much in a single chapter before.

Anyway, I didn't end this chapter with anything great. You'll notice it says "end chapter twenty," and this is because it's not the end of the story. No, I'll get some more in there, at least another chapter for an epilogue, maybe two.

Sincerely I hope you all have enjoyed this story. I know that I have enjoyed it much more than I was expecting to. I remember starting this and intending to end it at chapter one. I'm so glad I didn't, and I hope you all feel the same way. Now that it's ten after three AM, I'm going to hit the hay.

Oh, and krn-kimbap, I will be getting your picture to you shortly. It'll arrive by email as soon as I finish it. I'm sorry for not getting it to you sooner, as I promised you one over a month ago.


	21. A Party and Uninvited Guests

About halfway through typing this chapter, I came up with an idea to add more conflict to things, you know, to sort of shake things up after eveyrone's thinking all's well that ends well. It's not going to be a big deal, but it's a twist no doubt.

Oh, and I can't remember who all posted what, but as for a question brought up about what happened to Kabuto, he's still alive. I just totally fucked up on that one and forgot he even existed. I'll put some closure in about that topic some time I hope. Someone also posted a review, wondering what would happen to Itachi now that he was posessed by the Kyuubi. You didn't pay attention to the story. He died as a result of the Kyuubi's negative energy. I guess I didn't explain well enough. The whole point of Naruto's salvatoin was that the Iris gave him the ability to transfer all the negativity of the Kyuubi's demonic stress to another person so that they instead would die. I believe I even at one point had Naruto say that it would be Itachi who died as a result before the battle began. Anyway, I hope that clarifies things. As for Gaara, as I believe someone also asked what happened to him, he died, but we'll hear more about him later.

**

* * *

Chapter Twenty-One

* * *

**

In the center of town that evening, just about the entire populous of Konoha had come out to party, ready to have a good time and celebrate the end of a violent period of panic. Once again, Konoha would be enjoying a period of peace and tranquility. No one cared how long it would last.

It didn't matter how long the peace would last. They didn't worry about it. For now, everything was perfect and it was time to take time to just relax, kick back, and throw the biggest party the town had ever hosted.

There was music and singing and dancing. There was food of all sorts, snacks and punches and sake. Lots of people were talking, smiling, laughing, chattering.

"Naruto!" shouted Kiba from nearby. Naruto turned on his heel to face the dog boy as he squeezed through the crowds. Kiba gave him a huge, powerful slap on the back. "I can't believe you did it man! You're a frickin' hero!"

"Hi Kiba," said Naruto sheepishly and smiling. "Good to see you here. Glad you could make it!"

"Are you kidding me?" asked Kiba. "I wouldn't miss it for the world. Ever since that time you took me out in the Chuunin exams, I knew you were something special. You've got guts man." A large white dog walked up to Kiba's side and gave a hearty series of barks, followed by the dog jumping up onto Naruto and flattening him.

"What's up Akakmaru?" asked Naruto, patting the dog's head while trying to not get his face licked off. "Good to see you're doing well."

"I'll be seeing ya' 'round," said Kiba, taking his leave. "Hinata'll be wanting to know where I am."

"Huh?" asked Naruto. "Why's that?"

"We're engaged man!" said Kiba enthusiastically. "You have to come to the wedding man. It'll be awesome. Of course, you're invited for sure."

"Congratulations, Kiba," said Naruto with a laugh and a smile. "Tell Hinata I send my congratulations as well."

Not long after meeting Kiba, Lee had hunted him down. "Naruto! You promised me a fight when you returned from your training!" He pointed an accusing finger at the blonde like it was somehow that boy's fault that he'd not been able to keep the promise.

"Oh, hey Thick Brows," said Naruto. "I'll fight you some other time."

"I know you will," said Lee, bringing him into a bone crushing hug. Lee was vidently super strong as a result of that tough training. Naruto swore he slipped a disk in his spine or something. "We'll fight some other time."

"You bet," said Naruto. "It's a promise." Naruto gave Lee a dose of his own nice guy pose, baffling him with how much better he executed it. "How's that for you?"

"Amazing!" said Lee joyously, his eyes twinkling with tears. "Simply beautiful!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" laughed Naruto. "How're Neji and Tenten doing?"

"They're fine," said Lee. "Married actually."

"No way!" shouted Naruto. "I don't believe it!"

"Yeah, I was surprised too," said Tenten, coming up from behind him and startling the two boys. Naruto was shocked to see that Tenten was… huge…

"Tenten!" shouted Naruto. "You're pregnant!" Neji walked up to his wife and joined her side.

"Nice call, Naruto," said Neji with a strange facial expression that Naruto assumed must've been a smile.

"We're expecting in just about a month, now," said Tenten with a smile. "Thanks for all you've done for us, Naruto. You saved our village."

"The little twerp is quite the extraordinary boy, isn't he?" asked Neji. "You've come a long way since we first met, Naruto. I've still never forgotten your advice since the day you beat me at the Chuunin exams."

"That's good, Neji," said Naruto, starting to chuckle. "Because I'd hate to have to kick your ass again some day. I daresay it's not beyond my ability or rationale." (Just an interesting tidbit of info: Naruto stole this phrase from his fight with Orochimaru just before it started.)

"There won't be any need of that," said Neji with an uncharacteristic laugh of his own. "We'll be going now, but I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of Konoha's loudest and favorite ninja in the future."

"You bet!" yelled Naruto, only verifying Neji's comment about him being the loudest. The team left, and Naruto turned to the snack bar, where he saw Chouji getting busy with the many different edibles.

"Hey Chouji!" said Naruto, coming up behind him and patting his shoulder. "Don't eat too much now." Choujin's physical appearance hadn't changed much over the years, except he might've been a little taller and might've had a bit more muscle to add to all the girth.

"Oh, hey Naruto," said Chouji after he swallowed his food. (At least he was polite) "Great party."

"Thank Tsunade-sama," said Naruto with a smile. "She's the one who put it together. I'm only a fellow guest."

"Well, thanks for giving us a reason to party anyway," said Chouji, turning to the snacks again. Naruto decided to leave him to eat. Chouji wasn't one to talk too much anyway, so Naruto didn't mind. He ran almost head first into Shikamaru, who seemed to be neither smiling or frowning, completely stone-faced.

Naruto could guess that reason was that Ino was hanging off of his arm, holding on tightly so that the boy-genius couldn't get away. "Hey Naruto!" yelled Ino, letting go of Shikamaru immediately upon seeing him and hugging him. "It's so good to see you!"

"Err, hey Ino," said Naruto. "What's up?"

"I'm out with Shikamaru, obviously," said Ino. "He asked my to come with him to the party."

"Excuse me?" asked Shikamaru. "I believe I only just met you here and that you instantly latched on to me."

"Such a sweet guy," said Ino sarcastically. She grabbed Shikamaru's hand again.

"So troublesome," said Shikamaru before receiving a glare from the girl. He shut up.

"I can't believe you did it Naruto. You defeated Orochimaru _and_ Itachi. You've gotta be, like, the most powerful ninja ever!" said Ino.

"I don't know about that," said Naruto meekly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, I never got the chance much to be around you," said Shikamaru, "but if you ever get up in rank and need a team, you're more than welcome to be with me on my missions. I could use guys like you in my ranks."

"So you're a jounin now, huh?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah," said Shikamaru. "Hokage-sama put me as head commander of military troops, and I consequently get a lot of the harder missions, having to choose who goes out on them with me. So, if you get up to at least Chuunin anyday, give me a call. That is, if you intend to remain a ninja."

"Are you kidding?" asked Naruto. "I'll never quit being a ninja."

"I figured as much," said the other boy with a smirk. "Well, it's a lot of troubling work as commander, so thanks for giving us a reason to party and whatnot. Otherwse, I'd still be working. So annoying."

"Come on, Shikamaru-kun, buy me some ice cream," said Ino, pulling the boy away. Shikamaru gave Naruto a look that obviously meant something to the effect of "I'm in a living hell and would like nothing more than to get away." However, Naruto was sure that, if the smartest ninja ever wanted to really get away from Ino, he could do it easily. He suppressed his laughter as Sakura walked up to him.

"There you are," she said as she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss. "We've been looking for you."

"You have?" asked Naruto. "If I'm to get one of those every time I'm being looked for, I should get lost more often."

"Cute," said Sakura. "Come on, all off our teammates are waiting to hear from you. The Rookie Eight and a few are wanting to hear from you."

"I met a few of them already," said Naruto. He was dragged by the wrist over to a large tent, where a bunch of tables were placed with people eating and talking. At one long table sat all of what remained of the rookie nine team, his fellow classmates from the Academy from so long ago.

"Hey Guys!" he said as he sat down next to Sakura. Present at the table were Shikamaru and Ino and Chouji now, along with Shino, Akamaru and Hinata, and now himself and Sakura. Iruka had even just come along and joined them.

"Naruto!" said Iruka, walking up to him and hugging him. "It's great to see you're okay. Welcome back boy!"

"Hey, Iruka-sensei!" said Naruto. "It's good to officially be back home for good."

"So you're not going to leave again?" asked Shino, breaking his usual code of silence. "After you left so quickly following your return last time, are you sure you can stay in one place?"

There was a little laughter. Naruto rubbed the back of his head the way he always did when he was embarrassed. "Nope, I'm in town for good this time," said Naruto. "I will not be leaving Konoha again."

"So how does it feel to be the most celebrated ninja in Konoha now?" asked Hinata with a smile. "You're finally acknowledged."

"I have to be the happiest ninja in town," said Naruto with a laugh. "It's what I've been fighting for all my life, and now I've finally amounted to something. It feels great. Now that everyone doesn't hate me, I might actually make it to being Hokage someday."

"Oh, you can count on it," said the Hokage herself as she walked up to the table and placed her hands on Naruto's shoulders from behind. "Ladies and gentlemen, you're looking at the next Hokage. I have no doubt about it. If you continue to b the Naruto everyone now knows and loves, there's not a single thing in the world that will stop you."

"Thanks, Old-Maid!" said Naruto. He was clobbered on the back of his head, snding his face into the table top and cracking it.

"Of course," said Tsunade, "if you're not killed by me first, there's nothing that will stop you." Naruto came up and rubbed his forehead painfully. "I've got duties to tend to. Shikamaru, Iruka, could you come with me please?"

She left, followed quickly by the jounin commander and the academy instructor. The boys and girls at the table watched them depart curiously, wandering what could possible be wrong, if anything was indeed wrong at all.

"What's the matter, Hokage-sama?" asked Iruka outside the tent. Shikamaru's crossed arms and face were readable enough to the extent that it was evident he was silently asking the same question.

"There's already reports that Akatsuki is out for revenge, as is the Sound," said Tsunade quietly. "Akatsuki doesn't have much left, but they may try something soon. Shikamaru, step up security with our Jounin forces and make sure we're keeping an eye out.

"Iruka, round up the jounins and Anbu," continued Tsunade. "It might be best if you get a hold of Kakashi. He'll get the word out quick enough. Tell Asuma and Kurenai and the like. We need to be careful and alert. Though it's not likely, they may even choose to attack tonight."

There was an explosion somewhere behind Tsunade in the distance. They turned to face where now great, billowing plumes of smoke were pouring into the sky. "Speak of the devil," said Tsunade. "It's too soon, dammit!"

"How irksome," said Shikamaru. "I'm off. I'm sure it's safe to say the mission has changed to seek and destroy all enemies."

"Indeed," said Tsunade. "Iruka, be ready to fight."

Tsunade turned to enter the tent. The class was looking at her with confusion evident on their faces. "What was that explosion?" asked Ino. "Someone let the fireworks off early?"

"Neji, Lee, Shino," said Tsunade. "Follow me. We've got some uninvited guests in the party, and they're not here to celebrate."

**

* * *

End Chapter Twenty-One

* * *

**

This idea just sort of came to me for some reason. This'll extend the story by another chapter or two for sure. Neji, Lee, and Shino are Jounin, so that's why Tsunade asked for their help only. It seems some people have come to make a final attack on Konoha.

Don't worry, nothing bad will happen.

Oh, and I'm slightly drunk right now, so I hope that didn't affect anything in the story. I'm underage, only being seventeen, but it's still legal to drink if it's served in you're own home by your parents. So yeah, I was allowed to enjoy some booze tonight. I've had my share of alcahol before this night, but I've never tried typing while drunk. I'm surious to hear from you reviewers if it affected my typing at all. I don't know. I do'nt feel a whole lot different from normal when sitting down, but everything is extremelty swimmy if I try to move at all. I even stagger around and everything. It's fun to be a little drunk now and then, though I'm not compeletely blind-faced wasted or bombed.

Oh, but it sure does feel good, doesn't it Jesus?

Yes, Jin, being drunk is fun.

Sweet...hiccup


	22. Sorry, Invitation Only, Guys

This chapter is mostly just pointless violence and fighting, but I like chapters like that here and there. There's only one more chapter after I finish this.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Two

* * *

"Hey, Tsunade!" yelled Naruto, scrambling out of the tent behind the Hokage as she ordered the jounins off to take care of the problem. The Hokage stopped and turned to face him.

"Yeah Naruto?" asked Tsunade.

"What the hell's going on?" asked Naruto. "Are we under attack?"

The Hokage sighed. "We've been receiving info that Akatsuki is fond of getting revenge on the death of their most valued combatant. They've just entered our borders and are apparently intent on getting heir revenge on your night of celebration.

Naruto shifted his headband protector on his head with a smile. "Ah, good, a fight," he said cracking his knuckles.

"You're sitting this one out, Naruto," said Tsunade. "You only just recovered after a month of being in a coma. You're not fighting. I'm sure we have enough able bodies to take care of things."

"Oh come on!" shouted Naruto. "That's Bullshit and you know it! You know damn well that only just having recovered isn't enough to keep me out!"

"NO, Naruto-kun, you're not allowed," said Tsunade. "I order you, as Hokage and as a friend, not to fight under any circumstances. You'd better promise, or I'll kick your ass."

"You know I can't break a promise though," whined Naruto.

"Exactly," said Tsunade.

"Well, if you're going to play rough like that," said Naruto. "Fine. I promise…" The Hokage sighed a great sigh of relief. "I promise to disobey your order! HA!"

Before she could protest, Naruto disappeared as she blinked. "Wait!" she yelled to the wind. _"I don't think it's safe for him to fight… He doesn't have the Kyuubi anymore… Does he realize that he won't have that strength anymore?"_

Tsunade had to get to her own business. "Everyone, seek shelter immediately!" she shouted. "All civilians head to two large dining tents where you will be safely protected until it's all clear!

"All shinobi under jounin rank shall proceed to the tents also and stand guard and protect the civilians!" People were running about in an organized fashion to follow the leader's orders. The Hokage had taken her role as supreme commander in a heartbeat, calmly keeping the people safe with a clear head, even after partying.

"Hokage-sama!" yelled Sakura. "Where's Naruto-kun!"

"He left to fight," said Tsunade.

"Are sure that's a good idea?" asked Sakura in shock. "He just got out of the hospital! And he isn't accompanied by the Kyuubi anymore!"

"Follow your orders!" shouted Tsunade. "I tried to stop him, but I couldn't. Im way ahead of you, so don't insult my intelligence."

Sakura knew better than to disappoint her sensei, so she went to her duty of protecting the tents right away.

"Shikamaru!" called Naruto from the rooftops. The lazy ninja was standing on one of the rooftops with a few young jounin, giving orders quickly and tactically, sending them out in different directions.

"Hey Naruto," said Shikamaru. "You shouldn't be out here. You just recovered."

"Can it," said Naruto. "I'm here to help. You guys could use me anyway."

"Right," said Shikamaru with a grin. "We've got jouning and Anbu all over the city seeking out the Akatsuki agents. It seems they're scattered throughout the entire village."

"Great," said Naruto. Something flashed behind Shikamaru. "Duck!" yelled Naruto. Shikamaru hit the deck as fast as he could. A few hairs fell from behind his head.

They faced the intruder, and it was none other than Itachi's "partner" Kisame, holding his signature sword, the Samehada, over his shoulder. "Your eyes are good, Naruto-kun," said Kisame with a sneer.

"Get out of town," said Naruto. "I killed Itachi, so what makes you think you'll make it any farther than he did?"

"You aren't accompanied by the Kyuubi anymore," said Kisame. "Are you? My guess is, you're considerably weaker without it."

Naruto gritted his teeth. Up to this point, he had tired to not think of how that would affect his fighting. He didn't know honestly how much different he'd have to fight. Now, he'd get to find out though. "Shikamaru, get out of here."

"Nah, I'll help you," said Shikamaru.

"Don't be stupid!" shouted Naruto. "You're the genius here! Go help the others! They need you more. This is a one on one duel, so play to your own strengths and go do your strategizing thing elsewhere! You know what you have to do."

"Right," said Shikamaru shortly. "See ya. Don't die."

"I don't intend to," said Naruto as Shikamaru retreated. Naruto started things off by running at Kisame head on, his fists clenched to strike.

Kisame swung the Samehada down on Naruto as the boy disappeared, only to reappear and place a flying kick to the shark-man's back. Kisame fell off the roof onto the empty street below, where Naruto jumped down in pursuit.

Kisame righted himself and twisted to dodge a kunai being thrown at him. Halfway through his evasive move though, he was punched on the side of his face with a powerful left hook by Naruto. Kisame again flew backward and into a wall, cracking it where he hit into a spider web model.

He stood up. "Still think I'm considerably weaker?" asked Naruto. He thought he'd be weaker as well, but it evidently didn't affect him much that the Kyuubi wasn't in him anymore.

Kisame smiled his shark-tooth filled grin. "This just makes things more fun."

"You won't have any time to have fun," said Naruto with a growl. He ran at Kisame again while shouting. "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!"

Four clones appeared alongside the real Naruto into a V-Formation as they ran head long at the enemy. Kisame slashed at light speed with his sword in all directions, cutting the air in a 360 degree sphere around him. Forming a sphere of destruction in all directions. (Imagine Neji's jutsu to protect all directions of himself while releasing Chakra.)

The clones of Naruto were all cut into pieces in an instant, derailing Naruto for a second as he watched in dismay how Kisame had instantly sliced his doppelgangers up with such ease. Naruto charge forward as Kisame stopped slashing and prepared for his next attack. Muttering and performing some hand seals, the environment around them began to change.

"A Water jutsu!" shouted Naruto as water came from all directions and flooded the entire street. It all closed in on him, and he found himself to be enclosed in a very tall and wide cube of water, sealed by some kind of gelatinous membrane all around. He couldn't breath. He had to hold his breath.

"_Dammit!" _he thought. _"I'm useless underwater against a shark!"_

Something slashed through the water towards him. It was the Samehada. His reactions were greatly slowed under water, but the water just seemed allow Kisame faster movement. The cut landed across his chest and one of his raised arms. It cut deep, and blood flowed around him from his own wound.

Another movement came from behind him. He was tackled in the back by Kisame as he rushed by, knocking the boy forward a few feet. He was running out of air too. He wouldn't last in this water prison. What jutsus did he know to get him out of this one! He tried swimming towards the barrier that sealed him in, but with every painful second that passed, he wasn't getting any closer to it, like it moved with him.

"_What the hell?"_ he screamed to himself. _"Wait! It's a genjutsu! I'm… not underwater at all! It's a powerful one too. I can't break it, even though I suck at genjutsu anyway. There's not any water around me at all."_

Naruto tried closing his eyes and meditating to break the illusion, but it was no use. The water was still there. Kisame was approaching again, already beginning his downward swing with the Samehada. Naruto was slashed this time across the shoulder as he dodged. It would've cut his head off if he didn't already have good reflexes and reaction timing. He stifled a cry of pain, trying to hold on to all the air he could…

But, wait a second. There was no water… So he should be able to breath. _"The illusion is that I'm suspended in water and that I can't breath. But If I inhale, I should just suck on air… That'll break the Genjutsu. At least, I hope it breaks the genjutsu."_

Naruto inhaled a deep breath as the warm summer air of the night filled his lungs. He began to choke as the water faded away from around him. Kisame stopped his next approach. "You figured out the only method to breaking the genjutsu so quickly," he said. "Impressive. The only way to conquer it is through taking that breath, trusting that you aren't really in the illusion you're in. As you noticed, not even pain brought you out of the genjutu."

Naruto looked at his wounds… Well, he didn't have any wounds. "Those strikes were all just illusions too?" asked Naruto. "I get it now. The whole point of the illusion is that the victim suffocates himself until he looses consciousness, and it thus easy to finish off."

"Bingo," said Kisame. "But you've already beat that genjutsu, so the only way to finish this is one on one fighting."

"You mean the way that I was kicking your ass before?" asked Naruto with a smirk. "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!"

"Mizu Bunshin No Jutsu!" shouted Kisame in response.

While there were ten Narutos, there were also ten Kisames, and one of each set was the real person. They all charged into each other in an explosion of roars and growls. Clones were exploding into smoke and water like mad while trading blows, until none remained but the two real deals locked in a grapple. Naruto was parrying the Samehada with a single kunai.

"To overpower the Samehada with a kunai?" asked Kisame in disbelief. "Unbelievable!"

"And this is only a percentage of my strength," said Naruto with a grin. Before Kisame could question him, he heard another battle cry behind him as another Naruto rushed his blind side.

"Another!" yelled Kisame. He kicked the grappling boy in the chest with his leg, causing him to burst into fog, while the real Naruto descended form above with a kunai slash. The blade cut across Kisames back as he turned, and he painfully yelled while lashing out with his sword.

The Samehada hit Naruto squarely in the chest, causing him to fly high into the sky. He had raised a second kunai to stop the blade, placing it just between his chest and the blade to stop himself from being cut in half. However, the impact drove him sky high, where he landed on his back on a tower above the festival grounds below.

Meanwhile, down at the tent shelters, all the civilians were huddled together in fear. All the Chuunins were gathered around the tents, their eyes watching everything. If Akatsuki attacked them, they'd have to get through these Shinobi before reaching the civilians.

An Akatsuki agent landed right next to one of the Chuunins, a new recuit who'd just graduated a year ago from the Chuunin selections exam. He jumped backwards to avoid a fist, which grazed his chest. He rebounded back into the cloaked man with a roundhouse kick, but the blow was easily blocked by the much more experienced Akatsuki man.

A fist came flying from out of nowhere and hit the Akatsuki agent in the face. The man didn't even scream in pain as his body was sent like a rocket into a wall. Sakura clenched her fists threateningly. "Who else wants their ass kicked?" she asked the sky, waiting for more evil to come.

"Thanks, Sakura," called the retreating rookie Chuunin. Sakura acknowledged the appreciation with a wave of her hand as she looked around.

Another man in a black robe descended from above behind her, followed by another pair of two that helped to surround her. "She's the Hokage's student," said one of them.

"Be careful," said another. "She's not too fast though. Just don't get hit by her physical attacks."

One of them jumped in at her from above. She raised an arm to block the assailant's round house kick while another ran in at her. She jumped a little to avoid a sweeping kick, but another to her back hit home, and she fell forward to the ground. She rolled out from under a finishing blow meant for her face just before it hit, causing the ground to crack. She flipped up to her feet and ducked immediately under another roundhouse kick that was placed too high.

She twisted and swept her leg out into a tripping kick that caught a man's leg and caused him to hit the ground painfully. She righted herself as she continued the sweep, lifting a single foot high up above the grounded mans' stomach. She brought the foot down swiftly into an axe-kick maneuver, and her heel drove straight into the man's gut. The blow knocked him out instantly as she once again was kicked in the back.

She stumbled forward slightly toward the second remaining enemy. She didn't have time for a counter maneuver as he raised a kunai for a stab. She tried to twist herself around to avoid taking a direct hit, grunting painfully as the kunai became lodged in her left shoulder. She grabbed the attacker's extended hand and threw him in a seismic toss to the ground as the third person left jumped for his next shot.

The kick landed in her side as she skidded to the ground. It had completely caught her off guard. She got up and pulled the kunai out of her arm while throwing it in one fluid motion, the blood still trailing from it. The man easily dodged it. She cursed as she tried to stand while the enemy ran at her, drawing a longsword from under his cloak.

He slashed at her in a horizontal move, forcing her to bend backwards in a perfect ninety degree bend. The man was temporarily stunned at her show of acrobatics as she kicked up with one of legs into the mans face. He stumbled backwards a few feet while slashing with the sword. It caught her in the leg, forming a deep gash the completely immobilized her.

She yelled in pain as she tried to stand on it. She couldn't. At least the other three guys were knocked out. "Sakura-chan," said Hinata to the side. "You've done enough. Go inside and relax. You're wounded."

"This is nothing," said Sakura. She placed her hands over the wound on her leg and released a glowing green wave of chakra into the gash. The medical jutsu stopped all the bleeding and healed the scar almost completely. "Good as new," she said.

Something screamed in pain nearby. She turned to see Akamaru with his teeth clamped on the leg of one from Akatsuki. The man screamed in pain as he tried to crawl away, clawing at the dirt and ground as Akamaru began pulling him backwards. All Sakura and Hinata saw after that was Akamaru drag the terrified man, screaming and yelling, clawing at the ground, behind the corner of the tent.

More screams and terrified yells could be heard, along with the sound of something being torn apart, like clothing, or flesh. They couldn't tell what was happening until the same man ran out form behind the corner screaming, covered in scratches, his clothes completely torn apart into shreds. Nothing was left of his robes except a few strands here and there. The man was borderline naked. He ran past them, crying and shouting, waving his arms in terror as Akamaru walked back out with a piece of cloth and what appeared to be the man's boxers, complete with little pink hearts, in his jaws, smiling cutely and wagging his tail. Kiba followed him, smiling and praising the dog for his wonderful accomplishment.

Sakura and Hinata laughed, despite the mood of panic. "Kiba kinda still has that Naruto-ish liking for fun," said Hinata. "It's really cute at times, but he's quite the annoying person here and there."

"I heard that!" shouted Kiba. They continued to laugh.

Kisame jumped along the rooftops to follow Naruto, who was recovering from his flight. He'd landed in the side of clock tower that stood right above the time square. It was the highest point in Konoha besides the Memorial Mountain with the Hokages' faces on them.

He crawled out of the hole his body had formed, shaking his head violently as though waking up and shaking off the sleep. Kisame appeared in front of him just then and slashed with the Samehada. The sword tore through the side of the structure, creating a huge gash in the side of the tower. Naruto had narrowly avoided it by flipping up and out of the hole to land on his feet on the side of the tower, clinging to the wall with chakra(duh).

Kisame ran up the toward towards him and slashed again and again with the large sword. Naruto dodged and twisted and turned every time, barely evading strike. Finally, he arrived on the small, pyramid-like roof. They both stood facing each other. Actually, Naruto was clinging to the top of the pyramid spire, the pole extending from the top. He held on with one hand while using his feet to cling to the pole as well. Kisame stood with his sword over his shoulder below him.

"Why attack the village?" asked Naruto angrily. "They didn't do anything to you! It was ME who killed Itachi!"

"I don't care" said Kisame. "The more people that die, the better, in my opinion. Besides, it would hurt you more o see the people of your village die rather than you yourself dying. Am I right?"

Naruto gritted his teeth in response. He was right. Kisame laughed. "Right now, your Shinobi are trying to defend themselves. I have no doubt that eventually, Akatsuki will be wiped out and that your nins will win. However, this mission is just to kill as many people as possible. There will be casualties, and you know it. You know that some of your beloved friends will die."

Kisame laughed evilly, his body shaking with every chuckle that escaped him. He focused on Naruto and frowned however. "Why are you smiling, boy?" he asked Naruto.

Naruto was indeed smiling, as though Naruto also found something amusing concerning the topic. "What's so funny?"

"You don't know the Shinobi of this village very well," said Naruto. "I know all of them personally, and I even fought with a bunch of them. I'd be willing to stake my life, Kisame, on the fact that not one Shinobi of Konoha will have died tonight."

"You bluff," said Kisame, frowning still. It was Naruto's turn to laugh.

"You say I'm bluffing, but your face betrays you," said Naruto. "No, the village of Konoha houses the strongest Shinobi you'll ever have the misfortune of encountering. The Shinobi here are more powerful than you can find anywhere else. We will not surrender to death for such a stupid, petty battle that you have started. Each and every Shinobi in this town will live, while every single enemy you put against them will undoubtedly meet their end." Naruto laughed some more.

"You don't understand," said Naruto. "We are the Shinobi in whom the Will of Fire has been infused. We will not give up or surrender to you, and that includes surrendering to death."

"You are a liar!" shouted Kisame, swinging his Samehada. The sword slashed off the top part of the roof, cutting off the spire on which Naruto was perched. He jumped down onto the remains of the room. He had to admit, it wasn't going to be easy fighting on such a small space to work with.

"This will be over soon," said Naruto, opening his hand at his side. In it formed a blue, spiraling ball of chakra. "Here it goes!" shouted Naruto.

"OODAMA RASENGAN!" (I'm not sure if this is the exact typing of it, but it's the Rasengan used against Itachi in one of the lastest manga chapters)

"Well, I think we've wrapped things up here," said Chouji, dusting himself off and finally relaxing. Several of the other Chuunins and some Genins joined each other. Shikamaru joined them, jumping down from above, followed by Neji and Lee and Shino.

"Hey, Shikamaru," said Ino. "We got things covered down here. There doesn't appear to be any more."

"Just about all of them have been captured or killed," said Shikamaru.

"The rest are retreating," said Neji. "Don't worry. I've already confirmed it."

"Whew," sighed Kiba. "That was a good workout though."

"Are you all alright?" asked Shikamaru.

"Yeah," said Hinata. "How's Kurenai-sensei and the others?"

"They're just fine," said Shikamaru. "They're still as strong as ever apparently."

"Gai-sensei was magnificent!" yelled Lee with a triumphant punch into the air. "He kicked everyone's ass!"

"Where's Naruto?" asked Sakura urgently to Shikamaru. "He was with you, wasn't he!"

"He was," said Shikamaru. "He was taking on Kisame the last time I saw. I had to leave him. He hasn't returned yet?"

Sakura shook her head. "I'm sure he's okay," said Kiba. "He's probably kicking that guy's ass anyway."

"I can look for him," said Hinata. As Neji wasn't there anymore, presumably having left to be with his pregnant wife, Hinata was the only one there with the Byakugan. Her eyes widened and glowed for a second.

"Found him!" she said.

A flash of blue light from above illuminated the entire night sky as everyone came out from the safety of the tents, told it was safe to be outside again. They watched as the glowing blue light fell from the sky, flickering, yet growing brighter. Soon, as the light fell farther and farther down, they could hear a scream accompanied with it. Naruto was behind that light, as they could plainly see, and right under that light was the shark-ninja Kisame, also screaming.

Kisame's back hit the ground with such force that it shook the entire village of Konoha as Naruto's Giant Rasengan packed him into the earth at his stomach. Naruto floated, suspended on top of his Rasengan for a second, until the bright light faded and the Rasengan discontinued. Naruto jumped down to land gently on his feet.

"You are foolish to think that you can stop my dreams," said Naruto with a frown at the unconscious Kisame. "You should feel lucky that you didn't suffer the same fate as Itachi. You'd be dead otherwise, wouldn't you?"

Naruto dusted himself off and looked up at the large crowd in front of him. The entire village was looking at him silently with their mouths agape. Somewhere, off in the distance, a wolf howled at the moon.

"Sorry about the crater in the ground," said Naruto with a laugh.

The crowd, in a delayed reaction of coming to their sense, started cheering wildly and yelling in applause.

The party, needless to say, continued on late into the night.

* * *

End Chapter Twenty-Two

* * *

The next chapter will be the last one. This is set in stone, and then it's finished for good. But have no fears, for I will of course be coming out with new Naruto Sakura stories after this. I've got a new idea, but I'm not telling you anything. You'll have to come back and check me out some time.

Well, I definitely wanted Kisame to seem like a pushover in this chapter. After all, Itachi was the badass for the most part, and Naruto took him down. We'll learn in the next chapter of the closing elements and finally get everything finished up. Next chapter I'll get to explaining why Naruto didn't become considerably weaker after loosing Kyuubi.


	23. Honoring The Hero

holy hell! I had no idea that this chapter wasn't posted! I'll give you all an explanation. I typed this thing about a week ago I think, and I went through all the muss and fuss of posting it too. Somehow, something must've went wrong. I hadn't checked back in on this story, so i had no idea that something was wrong. I was kinda startled to have not received any reveiws about it yet, but now I know why. and have both been doing funky shit like this to me for a while. So i'm sorry. Here's the ending to "Bound By Misery"

Chapter Twenty-Three... Again

The next day, all of Konoha turned out for a very special event, called by the Hokage. Everyone gathered that the site of the previous night's party and festival, where a podium was set up.

The Hokage stood up there, accompanied by couple Anbu, Shizune, and a few jounin. Among the jounin was Kakashi, who sat in a chair looking pretty laid back, reading a bright orange book, titled "Icha Icha Paradise." Also up there was Iruka, looking a little nervous.

The people filled in the many seats that were there. Naruto walked into the town square with Sakura's arm hooked in his own, yawning away his sleep. He was still dead tired from all the partying and activity the previous night. He sat up front with his girl, where consequently most of Naruto's classmates were.

"Hi, Naruto-kun," said Hinata with a warm smile. "Good morning."

"What's up, Hinata?" asked Naruto, sitting next to her with Sakura on his right. "Enjoy the festivities last night?"

"Very much," said Hinata. Naruto was glad to see one of his closer friends had finally gotten over being so shy and introverted. Hinata always felt so negative of herself, but she had proven herself to be quite strong once her confidence was boosted.

"Excuse me, everyone!" called the Hokage behind the podium, followed by clearing her throat. All the talking and chatter died as they focused their attention on the Tsunade. "Thank you," she said. "I have called this assembly for a very important person to this village. I called this assembly without giving away its purpose so as to make it a sort of… well, surprise for that special person."

The Hokage looked down at Naruto for a second. Shit, she wasn't talking about _him_ was she? Naruto hoped this wasn't going to be turned into another celebratory gathering or anything. He was all partied out, and he couldn't stand the embarrassment.

"Of course, the special person I'm talking about is none other than Uzumaki Naruto," said Tsunade. "By now, almost all of you have heard all the details of his brave endeavor to end our conflict, and he did it all for us. This gathering today is to honor the loudest ninja in all of Konoha for his heroism. Naruto, kindly step up here and join me."

Naruto stood up, extremely aware of himself suddenly. He wondered if he looked stupid how he walked up to the podium to join where Tsunade, Iruka, and Kakashi all stood. He could hear his heart beating.

He could take on the fiercest enemy in the entire world, but he had stage fright. Perfect.

He stood up next to them while the audience sat in reverent silence. "Naruto," said Tsunade loudly, placing a medal around his neck. "You are a very special person to us all now. You have served the town of Konoha more than it will ever be able to repay you for. You baffle us all with your courage and bravery in the face of any threat you meet, never bending or buckling under all the pressure that's been put on you. You have all of Konoha's appreciation. Thank you Naruto-kun."

Tsunade swept the blushing blonde into another bone crushing hug. Naruto couldn't speak, so he just smiled at her when she let go.

"I'm not very good at the talking thing," said Iruka sheepishly on the side, walking up to Naruto. "I am honored to have been your teacher for your time spent in the academy. I can't even imagine how things would've been if you had been so perfect at everything from the beginning. You would've passed your exams with ease, would've excelled in your work and training. You would've become a very different person from the Naruto you are today, and you know what? No one would want that to change. If you had been that person, then you would've have the code of 'Never Give Up,' or 'Never Run Away'. That's what defines you Naruto. You're the bravest and most determined Shinobi in Konoha, and if you stay that way, you'll be Hokage for sure."

"Thanks Iruka Sensei," said Naruto with a grin.

"Tsunade asked me to say some things about you," said Kakashi with a lazy wave. "Not much to say really. All I've got to say, everyone already knows. I knew you were a weird one when you got put into my team. You were the most enthusiastic and energetic person I'd ever met, and nothing seemed to get you down for very long. In fact, anything that brought you pain made you that much more stronger. Well, I'll just say congratulations then. Congratulations Naruto, and thanks for being a great first student. You've made me proud."

"Thanks Kakashi Sensei," said Naruto.

"Anything you want to say, Naruto?" asked Tsunade.

"Speech!" yelled Ino from the front row with a laugh. It was followed by several choruses of "Speech," leaving Naruto with no choice but to oblige.

"I guess I don't have a choice," sighed Naruto loudly. Some people laughed as Naruto took the stand. He cleared his throat. "I don't know where to begin. I guess I'll start off by saying that it's always been an honor to belong to Konoha. It was a long time ago it seems that I was just a little screwball with no real direction in life, a little brat without half a brain-

"What's changed!" yelled Sakura from her seat. The crowd all laughed.

"Well, I guess I'm not so little anymore," said Naruto with a laugh, rubbing the back of his head again. "I love Konoha. When I thought I wouldn't be coming back, I couldn't bear it. I didn't want to leave this place behind, and it sickened me that I was never going to see this town and its people again, but I would give anything to make this place safer, to make these people happier. Now that I'm still alive, I never want to feel that way again, the feeling of leaving behind such a beautiful place.

"But make no mistake that I'd do it again in a heartbeat if it came to that again," said Naruto a little more seriously than people were expecting. "I would lay down my life without a second thought for you all, each and every one of you. I've worked really hard to be acknowledged by you all, struggled to gain your approval. It's been my dream, right next to my passion to become Hokage someday, as you all know I'm sure. I see you people smiling before me, listening to me, and it makes me feel so good inside I can't explain it. I am overjoyed to be with you all. That's all there is to it. When I become Hokage, however long it happens to take, I will be the best Hokage you can want. I'll do everything right, and I'll do it with you all in my heart, where you belong, forever to stay…

"Umm, that's it. Thank you."

The people started clapping uproariously and cheering, shouting, applauding and whistling. The roars could be heard for miles.

Ten Years Later…

Uzumaki Naruto was taking a stroll through the park, wearing a long white robe and giant round headdress with eh symbol of Konoha on its front. Walknig next to him was his wife with pink hair and green eyes. Running along in front of them was a little boy of nine years with blonde, spiky hair. He was chasing a butterfly along the path.

"So how was your day?" asked Sakura.

"Nothing exciting really," said Naruto. "Received the latest reports from Temari and Kankouro in Suna. They're doing well over there too."

"All thanks to you," said Sakura with a smile.

"I didn't do much," said Naruto.

"You were the one who strengthened our ties with the country of Sand tighter than ever," said Sakura. "Ever since you became Hokage a few years ago, they couldn't get enough of us."

"Well that's due in large part to the siblings of Sand," said Naruto. "They said it was Gaara's wish that Sand and Konoha be close. And now Sound is our ally as well. It's looking to be a peaceful time for the future."

"That's wonderful news," said Sakura, wrapping her arm around her husband while he did likewise.

"Oh, I did receive some interesting news today," said Naruto. "The Sound finally captured him. He was a bit tough, as they explained, to bring in, but he's been imprisoned and is set for trial in a few days."

"That's good news to hear," said Sakura. "Every day I wake up regretting letting him get away when Itachi joined that fight. I'm glad he finally got his own punishment though."

"He was Konoha's last true enemy really," said Naruto. "Konoha continues to remain at peace."

"You're a wonderful Hokage," said Sakura, giving Naruto a kiss. As they walked, they came across a couple sitting on a bench quietly together. One had long white hair, the other, long blonde hair.

"Hey there, Naruto," said Jiraiya. "Hi Sakura."

"Hi guys," said Naruto and Sakura in chorus. The couple on the bench were holding hands. Shortly after Tsunade resigned as Hokage five years ago, they married each other. It wasn't totally unexpected, but it still shocked a lot of people.

"Hi Aunt Tsunade and Uncle Jiraiya," said the blonde boy with them, running up to the pair.

"Hello there, Iruka," said Jiraiya with a smile down at the child. "Have you been behaving?"

"Yes sir!" replied the boy in a salute. "I've been very good."

"Glad to hear it," said Jiraiya. "Your Aunt and I found something for you today, so we bought you a little gift." Jiraiya shuffled through some things in a satchel and took out a brown paper bag stuffed with candy.

"WOOOOWWW!" exclaimed the boy. "Thanks Aunt Tsunade and Uncle Jiraiya!"

"Make sure it's okay with your parents before you go eating it though," said Tsunade with a laugh.

"Can I?" asked the boy to his mom and dad.

"Eat all you want!" said Naruto. His wife smacked him.

"You can have one piece before dinner, and then maybe some more after dinner for desert, okay?"

"Okay Mom!" said the boy. He ran off with the bag, finding more things to do while his parents and "extended" family talked.

"So he's got the aftermath of the Kyuubi in him?" asked Jiraiya.

"Yeah, like it's some kind of bloodline ability or something," said Naruto. "He must've picked it up when… err, Sakura and I-

"Say no more," interrupted Tsunade.

"I'm interested," said Jiraiya, taking out a small orange notebook and a pen. "Any details you could offer would be great for the next volume."

"What did I tell you about that damn book?" asked Tsunade. "I told you no more writing! Have you been publishing under my nose?"

Just then, Kakashi strolled by with a bright orange book in his hands. He didn't show many signs of aging. He still looked the same, possibly due to the fact that he still kept his face covered. "Hey, Jiraiya, nice edition. This is your best ever!"

"Hello, Hokage-sama, Sakura-chan," he said as he continued to pass by. Tsunade glared fire at Jiraiya.

"Old habits die hard, eh, Tsunade?" he asked sheepishly.

"Indeed they do," she growled, cracking her knuckles.

"We better be going," said Naruto, pulling Sakura along. "It was nice running into you guys again!"

He hurried along, grabbing his son before he had to witness any of the fight bound to be started. "Those two," said Sakura while shaking her head. "So different, yet they belong together so perfectly."

"Daddy, what's a Kyuubi?" asked Iruka. Sakura and Naruto stared at each other for a second.

"What do you mean, Iruka-kun?" asked Sakura. "Where'd you hear about anything like that?"

"I heard you and Aunt and Uncle talking about it," said the boy curiously. "What's a Kyuubi?"

"_Superb hearing already,_" thought Naruto. _"Kyuubi, how many more of your abilities does my son have?"_

**Possibly all of them.**

Naruto slapped his forward. "Don't worry about him," said Naruto. "When you're older, I'll tell you all about what the Kyuubi is, okay?"

"Awwww, moaned Iruka.

"Don't 'awwww' me," said Naruto in mock anger. He picked the boy up and placed him on his shoulders. "Or I'll have to punish you. I'll take you home and tickle you until you can't breath."

"Okay, I'll be quiet," said Iruka, laughing all the while.

**So when will you tell him, Naruto? I mean, he's going to hear all about me sometime.**

"_I'd rather not think about it right now, Kyuubi. I thought I was rid of you ten years ago, but even death didn't stop you from somehow 'imprinting' your thoughts and psyche into my own. It's hard enough thinking while sharing my brain with you."_

**_The Kyuubi laughed. _I don't even know how I ended up in here. Buy you know you're all natural now still. That boy though. He's going to have a lot of the abilities like you had when I existed in you. Advanced hearing, sight, phenomenal amounts of chakra that he'll be able to pull out at will, a natural ability to fight. I daresay he'll be just like you.**

"_What about the Iris? Will he receive that as well?"_

**Tough to say. If he does, I wouldn't worry about it. There's nothing demonic about your child. He's just going to be strong. That's all.**

"_That's not very reassuring, Kyuubi."_

**I'm the one who passed everything into your seed in the first place, Naruto. I should know better than even _you_ what your son will be capable of.**

"_Whatever," he thought._

"Naruto-kun, are you alright?" asked Sakura. "You look deep in thought."

"I'm fine," said Naruto. "Just thinking about… you know." Naruto jerked his eyes upward toward his sun. Sakura caught on.

"I don't think there's anything to worry about, dear," said Sakura. "Everything will be alright." They arrived at their house and entered, at which point Naruto took his son upstairs to his bedroom.

"Okay, you monster," said Naruto, laying him in his bed and tucking him in. "It's bed time."

"Okay," yawned the kid. "Can you tell me a bedtime story?"

"Well, let me think," said Naruto, sitting down next to his son's bed. "I think I can manage to give you a good one. Do you have any favorites you want to hear?"

"Tell me the one about the Little Engine that Could!" said Iruka happily.

Naruto smiled. "That's one of my favorites too," said Naruto. "Okay. This is a story about an overcoming huge obstacles, doubt, fears, and overwhelming odds, and coming out on top of it all and succeeding by working hard."

The End

That's it all! I will be turning out more about Naruto and Sakura eventually, but I can't think of anything right now to spark my creativity. if you can suggest a general theme, I'll take the best requets and write you something. Best suggestion gets the PRIZE! Yay, my first request ever! The rules are as follows: It must be a pairing of Naruto and Sakura. Anyone else can be in it, and you can even ask for other pairings. That's about the only rule. If you want a more modern story, say so, or if you want it set in old Konoha, that's cool too. I'll be taking AU or cannon fics.


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